Life As We Think We Know It
by Silverflare07
Summary: Strange visions have been haunting Dick Grayson's sleep, and they've only gotten worse since he met the new girl Kori. He's friend Vic thinks he's just stressed out but could it be that there's more to these dreams then everyone thinks... COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans. But I'm thinking if I did I'd still write Fanfiction just for the fun of it.

**Title: **Life As We Think We Know It

**Summary:** Strange visions have been haunting Dick Grayson's sleep, and they've only gotten worse since he met the new girl Kory. He's friend Vic thinks he's just stressed out but could it be that there's more to these dreams then everyone thinks...

**Author: **Silverflare07

**Dedication: **To the little voices in my head who will stay awake with me late at night and listen to me as I write this in my head. Cheers to you guys!

**Author's Notes: **This is going to seem like an AU fic but at the end you'll realize that it's not.

**Stuff you need to know:**

"Speech"

Thoughts or Dreams 

L7

Dick was standing in the center of a dark, slightly foggy room. A single spotlight shone down on him, encasing him in a perfect sphere of light. And it did just that, encase him. He found that when he tried to move beyond the light an invisible barrier stopped him. Not being a big fan of enclosed spaces Dick decided to try and push through whatever was blocking him. He placed his hands against the barrier and pushed...

_"... ... glad... ... staying... ... married."_

_Immediately Dick withdrew his hands. Where had that voice come from? It had sounded just like him but...he hadn't said anything. Shaking off the strange feeling that was creeping into his gut Dick continued to push against the barrier._

_"... ... ... did... ... us." This time the voice was feminine and sounded hurt and betrayed._

_"... comes to... ... got issues." The voice was masculine but at least it wasn't his._

_"... ... best friend... ... evil... ... ...must." It was that same girl's voice and she sounded more betrayed then the last time. It tore Dick's heart out to hear her sound like that but...who was she?_

_"... ... ... ... unwrinkled!" At least the girl sounded happy this time. Relieved too._

_"...think... ... to myself!" It was his voice again and he sounded angry, furious actually._

_"... ... ... annihilate them... ... ... you watch..."_

_The last voice, which was also masculine, made Dick's skin crawl and he suddenly became furious. Throwing his whole weight into it he finally felt his hands slipping through the barrier. Unfortunately they stopped advancing shortly after his wrists. He sighed in frustration and smacked his head against the invisible wall. He looked down and his eyes widened in shock._

_...His hands, on the other side of the barrier, were green..._

Dick Grayson sat up in bed breathing heavily. He felt extremely shaken up by whatever had woken him. He tried to recall just _what_ that was but the details were vague and he soon gave up. He looked around his room, almost expecting something to be wrong, or out of place.

Nothing was of course. His posters still hung on his walls; he's favorite bands and actors smiling at him. His pile of cloths still sat in the middle of the floor, his backpack and soccer cleats next to them. And his sunglasses were on his nightstand where his clock was bleeding 5:30 into the dark room.

He was going to have to get up in a few minutes anyways so, sighing and stretching, he pulled himself out of bed and exited his room, grabbing the towel that hung limply on his doorknob and headed to the bathroom. He shut the door and shuddered slightly as his bare feet came in contact with the cool tile. He stifled another yawn and turned on the water, adjusting it to his liking before stripping off his boxers and T-shirt and stepping in.

The warm water woke him up and he was able to think a bit clearer. He once again turned his attention to the dream that had plagued him the night before. He cupped his hands, allowing them to gather with water, and tried to recall the dream. But the details were trickling away like the water from his hands. Shaking his head he splashed the water left on his face and finished showering.

He stepped out of the shower and ran the towel over his hair a few times before wrapping it around his waist. He still couldn't shake off the creepy feeling and he frowned. He was Dick Grayson, 18-year-old senior at Jump City High, adopted son of millionaire Bruce Wayne. He was too old to be bothered by silly things like nightmares! Finally pushing it out of his head he walked to his room to dress and forgot about it completely.

L7

Dick pulled his black mustang convertible into one of the many 'student' parking spaces available to seniors. He immediately spotted his friend Garfield Logan leaning against the brick wall next to the door, obviously waiting for someone he knew to arrive. Climbing out of the car he shut the door and waved to Garfield as he ran over to meet him.

"Hey, BB!" BB stood for Beast Boy Garfield's self-acclaimed nickname. It was common knowledge that of the four friends Garfield was the most party wild. He always knew who was holding what party's when and whether or not it was ok to go. Like his friends, Garfield wasn't into heavy drinking or drugs and steered clear of parties where these elements were sure to be found... But he still loved to party. He often called himself a party animal and Raven, half jokingly and half serious, had suggested they call him Beast Boy. He was immediately attached to it and it had stuck with him for almost four years.

"Hey Dick! Finally someone's here! I've been here since, like, 6:30!"

Dick glanced at the watch on wrist. It read 6:45; but Garfield was not one to be alone for more then 5 minutes if he could help it. Even when he was upset with you, he'd rather deal with it then be alone. It was just part of the riddle that was Garfield Logan.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, But I was sure you'd be on the look out for Terra!" Dick teased as Garfield flushed a nice shade of red. Terra was the girl Garfield had liked since the beginning of the year, not that she had bothered to give him the time of day.

Dick laughed as Garfield kicked the ground and muttered something under his breath, still a vibrant red color. It looked slightly out of place on the young boy. He was hardly ever blushing. But it couldn't be any stranger then his slightly pointy ears (even _he_ didn't know who he'd inherited them from) or his hair, which changed colors every week (this week it was a lush olive green).

"Hey ya'll!" Dick picked his head up and Garfield turned to see their other friend, and third member of there "group" jogging towards them.

"Hey Vic."

"Sup?"

Victor Stone was a tall African American who was the star quarter back of Jump City High's football team. He was also one of the few kids his age who could successfully pull of being bald and still be labeled as 'hot' among the girls. He was taller, and more muscular, then either Dick or Garfield but was very nice despite what looks said. Unless of course you did _anything_ to his car, which was more like his precious baby then a means of transportation.

Victor smiled at them. "Nothing much. I was up half the night cramming for that Government test. And I still feel like I don't know any of it!"

The boys laughed at their friend's dramatic face. A pair of arms wrapped around Dick's waist and a voice whispered in his ear: "Hey."

He turned his head to see Raven, his girlfriend of almost 5 months, and the last member of their little group. They had all been friends since almost 7th grade but it was only a few months ago that he and Raven had decided to try dating.'

"Hey babe." He planted a kiss on her lips.

Victor and Garfield made disgusted faces at each other while trying to hide their laughter. Raven gave them a look that shut them up immediately.

"Uh...hey Rae." Garfield waved weakly.

"Sup Raven?"

Raven, with her amethyst eyes and violet hair (which she swore was natural) falling down to her chin, was said to practice witchcraft. While the boys knew it stopped as far as meditation and tarot cards and LOTS of incense there was always an eerie aura around her that made the boys afraid to upset her if it could possibly be avoided. She smiled at her friends. "So Dick are we still going to the café after school."

Dick furrowed his eyebrows. "That's tomorrow isn't it? I have soccer practice after school on Thursdays. But we can go after if you want."

She shook her head. She understood how much he loved playing soccer. "Don't worry about it. We can go tomorrow. But you owe me."

He laughed. "Okay." And sealed the deal with a quick kiss.

Again his friends made joking disgusted faces before pushing the two towards the building. "Okay you to love birds! Quit with the PDA and lets get our butts to class." Vic said as he reached with one arm to open the door.

The four friends ambled into the hallway and headed to their first period class, which was English, it was one of the only classes the friends all had together so, of course, it was their favorite. It wasn't so fun for their teacher however, having them all together. Mr. Mod wasn't their favorite teacher ever so they weren't too worried. Mr. Mod was an older English gentleman with a thick accent and love of all things British. He also seemed to be a little crazy and had earned himself the nickname Mad Mod among his students.

He wasn't in the classroom but the door was open and the lights were on so the friends walked in and dumped their book bags at their desks. Raven opened her book bag and pulled out a small book, which the boys knew could only mean one thing:

She written something and wanted them to read it.

"Here." She opened the book to a certain page and handed it to Dick. "I wrote it last night and I want you guys to read it."

Dick nodded and held the book out so Garfield and Vic could read it as well. And there written in Raven's neat scrawl (Dick wasn't sure if scrawl could be neat but Raven's was). This one wasn't titled, which was odd, Raven always titled her stuff, that was just...Raven.

Where she came from no one can know 

_There's nothing there but in time it will grow_

_She came in here swift as the breeze_

_One simple smile makes you weak in the knees_

_With eyes of jade and hair of fire_

_She's ever man's wanting desire_

_She affects everyone she knows near and far_

_She shines in the world like a flawless star_

_She hurts friends involuntarily_

_Hurting like one hurts an enemy._

_She doesn't realize what she does_

_That she's the end of this love_

_I can't hate her I can't be mad_

_But I can cry I can be sad_

_She's not here but like the moon versus the sun_

_It's obvious that's she's already won_

The three boys finished reading it (they had all been mouthing the words silently as they read) and looked up at Raven. Dick shook his head.

"Raven you can be _pretty _weird sometimes."

"It's really good though." Garfield said giving her a lopsided smile.

"Yeah, but it's about a boy loving a girl then loving another girl right?" Vic asked motioning to the book.

Raven nodded.

"A girl with hair the color of fire who shines like a star. She sounds pretty unique." Dick draped an arm around Raven's shoulder. "Who's the girl?"

Raven frowned slightly. "I'm not really sure. It came to me last night while I was meditating and I had to write it down."

The three friends sat and pondered this as the students filtered into the classroom. A few minutes later the bell rang and Mr. Mod came strolling into the classroom twirling his cane.

"'Ello duckies!" He greeted his class with his usual enthusiasm. His only reply was a tired moan from the class. He clucked his tongue. "Now now my duckies that's now way to start the day! You all need to pluck up! With have a new student and we don't want her to think badly of us do we?"

This caught a few people's attention and they sat up in their desks. They _never _got new students. At least the seniors never did. Garfield leaned over to Dick's desk and whispered:

"Man switching schools in your senior year! That must suck!"

Dick nodded his head in agreement and watched as Mr. Mod opened the door and a girl walked in. She looked to be about 18 and was pretty tall (not taller then Dick fortunately). Her red hair hung down to her waist and swished back and forth as she walked. Her jade eyes were nervous and focused on the ground, only looking up occasionally to glance quickly at the class.

Simultaneously three jaws dropped and hit the desks. Dick, Victor, and Garfield looked wide eyed and amazed at the new girl and Raven's poem echoed in their minds.

_She came in here swift as the breeze_

"This," Mr. Mod said to the class and gesturing to the new girl, "Is Kori Anders."

_With eyes of jade and hair of fire_

The three boys turned to Raven who was looking at Kori, shock apparent on her face. Slowly her head turned to face Dick's and he and the Garfield and Victor spoke.

"Whoa..."

L7

Where there's chapter 1. I hope you guys like it. I'm going to get started on chapter 2 either today or tomorrow.

Yes I know I made this seem like a Dick(Robin)/Raven romance but trust me it's not. It's a Dick(Robin)/Kori(Star) romance. It's just going to take some time to build up is all.

I'm not very good at multi-chapters I'm usually more of a one-shot type of gal (for the simple reason that I'm usually to lazy to finish a story once I start it) but I'm really trying with this one and I really hope you guys will enjoy it.

Please R&R! Reviews are always appreciated, flames will be ignored, and constructive criticism is always welcomed. I want to be a better writer for you (the reader) so I need to know what I'm doing wrong or could be doing better.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans. But I'm thinking if I did I'd still write Fanfiction just for the fun of it.

**Title: **Life As We Think We Know It

**Summary:** Strange visions have been haunting Dick Grayson's sleep, and they've only gotten worse since he met the new girl Kori. He's friend Vic thinks he's just stressed out but could it be that there's more to these dreams then everyone thinks...

**Author: **Silverflare07

**Dedication: **To the little voices in my head who will stay awake with me late at night and listen to me as I write this in my head. Cheers to you guys!

**Author's Notes: **This is going to seem like an AU fic but at the end you'll realize that it's not.

**Stuff you need to know:**

"Speech"

Thoughts or Dreams 

L7

The rest of English passed by in a flash for Dick. The new girl, Kori, her name was Kori, kept silent and to herself. When the bell rang, signaling the end of the period she practically flew out of the classroom. Probably in order to search for her next class. The school was a maze of dead end hallways that branched off from the main part of the school, which wrapped around a square courtyard. It was pretty easy to find yourself in the wrong place.

Garfield leaned over to his desk. "Don't ya think we should, you know, show her around? She'll _never _make it to her next class on time."

Dick nodded and turned to Raven, who had been listening. "What do you say? Any bad vibes from this new girl?" He laughed to show he was only joking.

Raven shook her head. "No. But," She smacked him on the arm, "That was for being a smart ass."

Vic looked up at the door. "Come on ya'll if we're going to find her we need to get going."

The four friends sprang up and raced out of the classroom faster then normal. Vic, being the tallest of the four, was the first to spot her, about to turn the corner.

"KORI!"

She turned around at the sound of her name and scanned the mob of students quizzically. Vic waved his hand in the air and motioned for her to stay put. She did as instructed and they soon caught up to her (Gar was almost trampled in the process).

"We want to show you to your next class." Garfield stated.

She nodded. "And you are?" She raised an eyebrow and smiled. She had a very pretty smile Dick noticed.

"Oh!" Garfield smacked his forehead. "I forgot," He stuck out his hand and she gripped it, "My name's Garfield Logan but you can call me Gar, or Beast Boy or BB or-"

Vic pushed Garfield's head out of the way and stuck out his hand. "I'm Vic Stone. Please to meet you little lady, sorry bout BB he likes to talk, a lot."

She giggled. "So I've noticed." She smiled again. She turned to Raven and stuck out her hand. It hung there in midair as Raven looked from it to her and back to it.

"I'm Raven." She finally said but still made no attempt to take Kori's outstretched hand. Dick grabbed it instead.

"Sorry about Raven. She's really very nice once you get to know her, she just...isn't overly fond of strangers. I'm Dick Grayson by the way nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet all of you. Thank you very much for helping me find my way to class. I don't think I'd ever find it one my own."

Garfield nodded. "Yeah, we pretty much thought the same thing. But don't worry we've all gotten lost at some point or another."

The other three nodded in agreement before Dick held out his hand again. "Let me see your schedule." She handed him the white piece of paper. He looked it over before smiling. "You've got science with BB next, then he can show you to Spanish V where Raven is, she can take you to Government where Vic is...then he can take you to the Gym and I can take you to the exit at the end if you need too."

Kori smiled and bounced on her heels. "Wonderful! I really didn't want to get lost on my first day."

The four friends nodded and said their goodbyes. Dick and Raven walked back the way they had come and Vic walked off down the left hallway.

"Come on." Garfield grabbed Kori's arm. "The science hall is this way."

She nodded and followed him. She looked around the school with large eyes. "This school his much bigger then my old one." She admitted as the passed another set of branching hallways.

Garfield nodded. "Yeah, it looks confusing but after a couple of days you won't have any problems getting where you need to go. They just need to learn to label this school better for the newbies."

Again she nodded and looked to her left. "The people at your school seem very...friendly." She observed.

Garfield looked over at the lockers where a boy and girl were currently making out. "Oh them, that's just Stephanie and Kouji. They've been going out forever. It's all over school that when they graduate this year they're gonna drive to Vegas and elope."

She nodded again. "That's...nice..."

He laughed. "It's okay if you think it's weird. We all did too, you just sorta get used to it." She began to giggle with him.

L7

"Here ya go." Garfield stopped in front of room 219. "This is you're Spanish class. Raven should be inside, or will be here soon. After class she'll take you to Government."

Kori nodded. "Thanks again."

He smiled. "No problem. Hey don't worry about Raven. She might seem a little cold but she's not that bad deep down. She's actually very sweet and nice and..." Kori giggled. He looked at her. "What?"

She smiled and giggled again. "It sounds like you like her!"

Garfield blushed crimson. "N-no! She's Dick girl anyways."

Kori nodded giving him a sure-you don't smile. "If you say so 'Beast Boy'" She waved good-bye and walked into the classroom.

Garfield waved back and turned slowly and headed to his next class Kori's words still playing in his mind.

L7

Raven was already in the classroom when Kori walked in. She placed her stuff on the empty desk next to her. "Hello Raven!" She greeted her with a smile.

Raven smiled despite herself. "Hi Kori. Sorry if I seemed a little cold this morning."

Kori shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I'm usually not good with new people either."

Raven laughed. "Something tells me you're just saying that to make me feel better."

Kori gave her a guilty grin. "I tried." The girls shared a laugh. Raven couldn't help it. She and Kori were going be good friends, despite their immediate differences and that silly poem.

L7

"Here's your Government class. And there's Vic." Kori turned to see Vic jogging towards them. Sweat glistened off is forehead; obviously he had just had P.E.

"Hey ya'll!" Vic greeted.

"Hey." Raven nodded at him and turned to leave.

"Raven didn't give you too much trouble did she?" Vic turned to face Kori.

Kori shook her head. "No of course not. She was very nice. She apologized for this morning."

Vic nodded. "She is nice once you get to know her. She just needs time to warm up to people."

Before Kori could respond the bell rang and Vic ushered her inside. "Come on. Jumbo hates it when we're late."

Kori stepped into the classroom and found the teacher sitting at his desk, which was covered with papers scattered everywhere. Mr. Jumbo was a very energetic older man who had wanted to be a magician since he was little. That however hadn't worked out and he settled for teaching, he's second favorite thing to do. He tended to be a bit scatter brained and had problems getting sentences out properly the first time. He students called him Mumbo Jumbo when he wasn't listening.

Kori took a seat next to Vic and waited for class to begin.

L7

"Here ya go. Here's the gym. You can't miss Dick; he's the soccer star of the school so he'll be playing that, or volleyball. Either way you can't miss him. Just look for the spiky head. That's him."

"Shut up Vic."

Both teens turned to see Dick standing behind them, his backpack slung over one shoulder. Vic laughed. "Sorry man, just helping out Kori."

She shook her head. "Oh no you don't. Don't drag me into this."

The three laughed before Vic took off back down the hallway and Dick and Kori turned to walk into the gym.

After all the introductions Kori was told to go change in the locker room. "You can lock your stuff in my office till I can get you a locker and a lock." The gym teacher had told her. She wore the only thing that she had unpacked that was suitable for gym. A pair of red shorts and a small white t-shirt.

As she walked out of the gym she could feel the boys eyes on her. She kept her head down and wished that Dick would find her.

"Hey." She looked up to see a boy with short blonde, almost orange, hair looking at her.

She smiled shyly. "Hello."

He gave her a dashing smile. "My name's Roy. Roy Harper. I don't think I've seen you before."

She nodded. "Today is my first day. My name is Kori Anders."

His smile widened. "I thought so. I would have remembered some one as beautiful as you."

As flattered as she was she had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. "I'm sure. Look have you seen Dick Grayson?"

"I'm right here Kori."

L7

Dick was bouncing the soccer ball from one knee to the other when Kori walked out of the locker room. He spotted her immediately; her flame red hair was hard to miss. Apparently the other boys thought so too. He saw how their stares were making her uncomfortable. He felt some twinge in his stomach but brushed it off as hormones. After all, those were short shorts.

He saw Roy Harper approach her and knew that meant trouble. Roy only talked to girls for one reason and one reason alone. Sex. He started off by smooth talking his way into a date. From there he showered the girl with praise and roses, compliments and kisses, and usually had what he wanted before the night was over. People had begun to call him Speedy after he'd nailed the princess of Jump City High, Kitten, before their first date was even over.

He walked over to them quickly and could already hear Roy starting to use his charm and smooth talking. Kori didn't seem to be affected by it at all. That was good.

"I'm sure." He heard her tell him. "Look have you seen Dick Grayson?"

"I'm right here Kori."

She turned to face him. "Cool. I was looking for you but Roy stopped to talk to me."

He nodded. "Well I'm here now. What-" He noticed that Roy was still standing there. "I think you're friends want you to go back to your basketball game."

Roy nodded and smiled. "Well it was very nice meeting you Kori. I look forward to the next time we meet." He jogged back over to his friends and they resumed their game.

"He was certainly very nice." Kori said as she watched him play.

"Don't let him fool you." Dick told her Roy's story and his well-deserved nickname.

Her fist balled and her green eyes flashed dangerously. "Why that no good son of-When I get through with him...we'll see how 'speedy' is after I'm done with him." She began to head toward the game.

Dick grabbed her arm and stopped her. "As nice as it would be to see someone put Roy in his place it's probably not the best idea to get into a fight on you're first day of school."

Kori relaxed a bit and nodded, her fists we're still clenched though.

"How bout we play some volleyball." Dick suggested. "You can pretend the ball is Roy's head and smash it as hard as you want."

Kori nodded. "That sounds like a wonderful idea."

They headed to the volleyball net and Dick grabbed the ball. He spun it in his hands. "I'm warning you. I'm pretty good."

Kori smiled. "That's good. I don't expect you to go easy on me just because I'm the new girl."

Dick positioned himself to serve the ball. "Good. I won't." He served the ball.

They played volleyball until the end of the block.

She creamed him, 32-0.

L7

There's chapter two. I hope you guys liked it. I know Speedy's not really a jerk like that but that was how I decided to make him.

**Thanks to all of you who reviewed:**

**astird, Jeanniestorm, StarfireTT, mi/ri, Titan6, The Samurai Pizza Cat, mysticblue17, robin and star fan, RobinRox13, Warlordess, lupine-eyes, solodancer**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans. But I'm thinking if I did I'd still write Fanfiction just for the fun of it.

**Title: **Life As We Think We Know It

**Summary:** Strange visions have been haunting Dick Grayson's sleep, and they've only gotten worse since he met the new girl Kori. He's friend Vic thinks he's just stressed out but could it be that there's more to these dreams then everyone thinks...

**Author: **Silverflare07

**Dedication: **To the little voices in my head who will stay awake with me late at night and listen to me as I write this in my head. Cheers to you guys!

**Author's Notes: **This is going to seem like an AU fic but at the end you'll realize that it's not.

**Stuff you need to know:**

"Speech"

Thoughts or Dreams 

L7

During the coarse of their game Dick and Kori had gained quite a crowd of spectators, teens opting to watch the new girl smash Dick's volleyball streak into the dust rather then play their sports. Even the teachers and abandoned trying to settle the unruly students (since there were so few) and had been watching.

As the game drew to a close and Dick missed the ball for the 32nd time Kori bent over placing her hands on her knees and breathing heavily. It had been a while since she'd had a work out like that. The sound of someone clapping came from somewhere in the crowed and a teacher pushed her way through.

"Congratulations Kori. Dick's one of our best players, possibly the best, and you totally kicked his ass! How would you like to be on the volleyball team?"

Kori looked up and smiled. "That would be wonderful. I'll have to check with my sister though."

Mrs. Callaghan nodded. "Ok well practice starts Monday. Hope to see you there."

With the game over and nothing to watch (except Kori depending on which gender you were talking to) the students went back to their games. Only to hear the whistle signaling the end of the period was drawing near and they had to go get changed.

Kori stuck out her hand and Dick gripped it. "Good game." He said happily. "You sure gave me a work out I'll never forget."

"Same here." She wiped some sweat from her forehead. "I needed that though. Thanks."

"No problem. I needed it too. Same time, same game?"

She nodded. "Of course. As long as you don't mind getting your butt whipped again."

He clutched his chest. "Somehow I think I'll survive."

Kori smirked as she walked away. She turned back to face him. "I know you can. It's your pride I'm worried about."

Dick pretended to cringe. "Ouch Kori, ouch." They shared a laugh before both turned and jogged toward their respective locker rooms.

L7

"There you go." Dick pointed to the large glass double doors at the front of the school. "The buses are right outside. What bus do you ride?"

Kori closed her eyes for a minute. "I believe I ride bus 625." She replied after a moment.

Dick nodded. "That's my bus. Where do you live?"

Kori shrugged. "I'm not certain of the street name yet." She admitted sheepishly.

Dick laughed. "That's alright. 625 is always in the front, or she used to be, it's been awhile since I've ridden the bus. But either way you'd better hurry so you don't miss it."

Kori nodded and thanked him. She ran out the door and turned and waved from the other side. She mouthed thank you again, flashed him a brilliant smile again and ran off to find her bus. Dick smiled to himself. She was a really sweet person; he and his friends were lucky to have met her.

_I bet she and Gar would make a good couple._ He felt a sudden twinge in his gut at his thoughts but shook his head and ran off to soccer practice. The coach would skin him alive if he was late again.

L7

Dick stood just outside the gym, his book bag at his feet, wiping his forehead with his arm. He had gotten a call from Bruce earlier and was needed back at the house immediately after practice. There hadn't even been time to shower.

"Dick!" Dick turned to see his friend Garth running towards him. "Man where are you going?" He wrinkled his nose. "And without a shower no less."

"Dick laughed. "The man needs me at the house."

"Any idea why?"

He shrugged. "He's probably going out of town again."

Garth laughed again. "Awesome! Party time! Invite that new hot chick, what's her name, Candy?"

"Kori." Dick corrected his voice holding an almost steely edge to it. Garth didn't notice.

"Right, Kori! That's girl's gorgeous. I'd love to sink my cleats into her." He winked.

Dick rolled his eyes behind his dark sunglasses. "Sure thing." He made a mental note to not invite this particular member to the team. His friend slapped him on the back and ran off. Dick was glad to be rid of him. He wasn't sure why he was so protective of Kori. She was cute and all but he didn't like her or anything. But this protective instinct was almost natural and he was too exhausted from practice to fight it.

Slowly he made his way to the student parking lot and was surprised to see Raven meditating on top of his car. "Uh...Rae, please don't kill the car."

She cracked an eye open and glared at him. "Some welcome that was." She grumbled, untangling herself and sliding off. He laughed.

"I'm sorry. Let's try that again." He pulled toward him and kissed her full of the lips. She wrinkled her nose and pulled away.

"Ugh! I think I liked the sarcastic greeting better. You stink! Why didn't you shower?"

He laughed. "Didn't have time. Bruce wants me home right away."

Raven pouted. "Well there goes my 'let's go for a drink' idea."

Dick smiled. "Tell you what. We'll go to my house, when the old man's done talking to me we can have a drink there. Deal?"

Raven pretended to think it over. "Okay fine, but you're still taking me out after school tomorrow."

"Fair enough." They climbed into his car and he sped off towards his house. They arrived 10 minutes later and were ushered inside by Alfred, Bruce's head butler.

"The master is waiting for you in the drawing room. I would hurry he is very anxious to get the meeting underway."

Dick nodded and grabbed Raven's hand, leading her to the drawing room. The drawing room was in the back of the mansion but Dick got them there quick enough. Slowly he pushed open the large oak door and he and Raven walked in. The room was lined with bookcases, which were, of course, filled with books on every subject. Lot's on bats though. Bruce liked bats. A lot. There was a table in the center of the room with a few chairs placed around it and scattered wherever they looked nice. Behind two of the chairs was an elaborate marble fireplace and mantle. And in one of those chairs sat Bruce.

Still in good health for a mad his age Bruce sat proud and tall, his chestnut eyes dancing with the firelight. His grown hair gleamed in the soft steady glow of the dancing flames and he looked incredibly relaxed. He smiled when he saw them. "Dick! And Raven. It's always nice to see you. Please, sit down."

Dick did as he was instructed thoroughly bored already. Bruce was only that polite when he was about to leave. "How long you gonna be gone for this time?"

Bruce smiled. "You're getting smarter everyday Dick. I'll be gone for two weeks. An associate from the Texan branch of Wayne Corporations has run into a problem and my presence there is crucial. I trust you and Alfred can handle things here while I'm away."

Dick nodded. "Sure thing. Can I have a party while you're gone?"

Again Bruce smiled and half laughed. "What I don't know won't hurt me." Which both teens knew meant yes.

"When are you leaving?" Raven asked running her fingers through her hair.

"Saturday."

"Bye." Raven smacked Dick's shoulder lightly. "Be nice." She scolded half laughing.

Together the two of them walked out of the room. They headed into the kitchen where Dick got them two sodas from the fridge. They sat down at the table and Raven popped open her soda. "So..." She started playing the metal tab of her can. "When's the big bash?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. Wasn't really planning on having one." He saw Raven's look. "I just wanted to see if I would be able to have one."

Raven smirked. "Right, so next Saturday then."

Dick shook his head and sighed. "If you say so Rae."

She took another sip of her soda. "As a matter of fact, I do."

L7

"Sister?" Kori called out into the seemingly empty house. "Sister are you home?"

"I'm in my room Kori." Came the muffled reply from somewhere above her.

Hurriedly Kori ran up the stairs and burst into her sister's room. Black (nicknamed for her almost midnight black hair (which at the moment was closer to purple black)) looked up from where she was examining a shirt in front of the mirror.

"Geez Kor, you wanna knock. I might have been changing."

Blushing slightly Kori smiled. "Apologies Black." She walked out of the room, shut the door, knocked quickly, and burst in again. "Wonderful news sis! I was asked to join the volleyball team at my new school."

Her sister smiled. "That's great! You were always really good at volleyball."

Kori beamed, compliments from her sister were rare. "Yes! I shall inform the coach tomorrow." She began to walk out the door when her sister's voice stopped her.

"You might wanna finish unpacking or you'll be going to school naked tomorrow."

L7

Dick pulled into the parking lot and climbed out of his car. He threw his hands over his head and quickly ran toward the building not wanting to be drenched by the heavy rain. He hated rainy days. He made it into the school without getting completely soaked. He looked up and saw that Kori had had no such luck. She stood at the other end of the hallway wringing out her hair. He grinned and walked over to her.

"What happened to you?"

She looked up at him agitated and tried unsuccessfully to blow a piece of wet hair out of her face. "I was walking to school when it started to downpour."

Dick looked momentarily surprised. "Why didn't you just take the bus?"

"I like walking. It's healthier too." Dick nodded, that made sense.

"Dude! What happened to you?" Someone screeched from behind them. They turned to see Garfield and Vic standing behind them.

"Got caught in the rain." Kori answered while wringing out her T-shirt, which was beginning to become see through. Luckily they were the only ones in the hallway.

"Do you need a new set of clothes?" They all turned again to see that Raven had joined them. "I think I've got some extra clothes in my P.E. locker."

Kori smiled gratefully. "That would be great." The two girls walked away.

Dick turned back to face the boys. "Next Saturday Bruce's going to be out of town so if you guys wanna come over and hang out..."

"A party!" Garfield screeched again. "Sweet!"

Vice smiled. "I'm game."

Dick grinned. "Great. Raven's coming of course and I'm gonna see if Kori wants to come and you," He looked pointedly at Vic, "can invite your precious Bumble-Bee." He teased, using Vic's pet name for his girlfriend.

Before Vic could respond the girls came back, Kori now wearing a dark purple skirt and light purple top. She looked much happier now that she was in dry clothes.

"Come on." She said gripping the strap of her book bag. "Let's go put our stuff down."

She led Vic, Garfield, and Raven down the hallway. Dick smiled to himself. Kori might have been the new girl but she was already one of the gang.

And that made him happier then he was willing to admit.

L7

Okay there's chapter 3! I know it's a little shorter then my other chapters but I hope you guys liked it all the same.

Writing this chapter almost killed me. Ugh! All the R/Rness. But for the sake of the plot it must be done _:shudders: _Doesn't mean I gotta enjoy it though.

**_Thanks to all of you who reviewed:_**

**_Princess Nightfire, Emma, The Samurai Pizza Cat, solodancer, astird, Rochelleteentitan, Titan6, robin and star fan, Zerin Empress_**

****

By the way: The Samurai Pizza Cat, LOVE the pen name!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans. But I'm thinking if I did I'd still write Fanfiction just for the fun of it.

**Title: **Life As We Think We Know It

**Summary:** Strange visions have been haunting Dick Grayson's sleep, and they've only gotten worse since he met the new girl Kori. He's friend Vic thinks he's just stressed out but could it be that there's more to these dreams then everyone thinks...

**Author: **Silverflare07

**Dedication: **To the little voices in my head who will stay awake with me late at night and listen to me as I write this in my head. Cheers to you guys!

**Author's Notes: **This is going to seem like an AU fic but at the end you'll realize that it's not.

**Stuff you need to know:**

"Speech"

Thoughts or Dreams

L7

Friday passed pretty much the same as Thursday for Dick. Kori kicked his ass yet again in volleyball but at least he'd managed to score a few points. Three to be exact. Again they had had a crowed of spectators and Kori had even gotten a few catcalls and whistles. Dick couldn't blame them, every time she'd jumped to hit the ball her shirt had risen to expose a few inches of a well toned and tanned stomach.

Dick couldn't blame 'em but he could hate 'em.

He couldn't quite explain the protective feeling that bubbled up inside of him at the thought of any guy being attracted to Kori. He almost felt like an older brother, protective of his naïve little sister. Because Kori was a bit naïve. Not a bad kind of naïve just...well things were different here then they had been where ever she'd used to live.

It wasn't like he was in love with Kori or anything. He was protective of Raven too. It was just a different protective feeling then the one he had about Kori. Well not so much different as not as great.

_But that's just because Kori's got so many more guys after her..._ He reasoned with himself on the drive home from school. He just had a very protective nature; that was all.

At least that's what he told himself.

"What are you thinking about?" Raven's voice snapped him out of his daze.

"Huh?" He responded intelligently.

She laughed. "You're thinking about something. I can tell because you're driving home instead of to the café we're supposed to be going to."

He looked around and saw that she was right. "Oh..." They were on the familiar roads of his neighborhood. He turned on his blinker and turned right onto Titans Lane. "I think this should take us back to the main ro-woah..." He trailed off as he pulled in front of a house as large as his.

"Damn..." He heard Raven mutter under her breath as they looked up at the house in awe. "You never told me there were other people as rich as you in your neighborhood."

"I didn't know... I've never actually been down this road before."

Raven nodded. "Wow...wonder who lives here?"

Dick scowled. "Probably just another stuck up rich kid." It was no secret that most of the people in the neighborhood, although they weren't nearly as rich, were more stuck up and snooty then Dick could ever be. "Jerk's probably up in his bedroom looking down on us as we speak."

Raven laughed. "He's probably wondering why such trailer trash is sitting in front of his house. Thinking about how much he can't wait to scowl and turn his nose up at us."

Dick nodded furiously, completely missing her sarcasm. "Exactly! He just can't wait to-"

"Hello!"

The two teens turned to look out Raven's window to see Kori walking up to the car. "I didn't know you guys knew where I lived!"

They turned back to the huge mansion. "You live here?" Raven asked, amazement creeping into her voice.

Kori nodded and looked sheepish. "Yes, my father is the king of a small country." Dick and Raven's eyes bugged and their jaws dropped. Kori looked even more embarrassed. "Yes, you see my sister wished to come here for collage and our parents felt it would be good for me as well. They sent us both here with our nanny."

Suddenly it was obvious that she was from another country. The way that things in the school had confused her and how her English was so formal. Very good but very formal. "You speak pretty good English for a foreigner." Raven noted while Dick nodded in agreement.

"Yes, my father made my sister and I study many languages but English is by far my best. My sister is even better then I am." Dick and Raven nodded and Kori turned her head to the side. "So why is it that you are parked in front of my home?"

"Dick went the wrong way and we're trying to get back to the main road." Raven explained.

"Oh, well if you follow this road it will do just that. Have a good time where ever you are going and please," She looked nervous. "Do not tell anyone about this."

Raven nodded but Dick thought for a minute. He had no problem keeping this secret from everyone else in school but he didn't like hiding things from Vic and Gar. He would of course if she wanted him to but it couldn't hurt to ask. "Can we tell Vic and Gar?" Kori bit her bottom lip. "They won't tell a soul I swear.

Finally Kori nodded. "Yes, of course we can tell them on Monday.

"How bout tomorrow? I'm inviting the guys over, you're welcome to come either way."

She considered. "Okay. Tomorrow then.

"Great! Come over at like 3. It'll just be us five."

"Right, 3 o' clock. See you there." She turned to walk up her driveway. "Oh by the way...Which house is yours?"

Dick laughed. "It's the next street over. It's the only house as big as yours. You can't miss it, trust me."

She nodded. "Alright. I trust you. I'll see you both tomorrow."

She turned and walked up her driveway as Dick and Raven continued down the road. They reached the café minutes later and Dick shut off the car and both climbed out. Raven took his hand and they walked inside.

The inside of the café was dark and smelt like coffee (big surprise there). They sat down in the beanbag chairs at one of the table and a waitress immediately hurried over to them. After placing their orders (tea for Raven and a coke for Dick) they settled into silence to listen to the poetry being read.

Dick leaned back in his beanbag and closed his eyes. Poetry wasn't really his thing but Raven loved it. She hardly ever let them go anywhere else. Soon he'd grow bored and zone out until Raven had her fill of the words being read. What he wouldn't give for a nice game of volleyball...

L7

Garfield stared at the blonde sitting a few tables away from him at his favorite comic club. Kitten was gazing at herself adoringly in a compact mirror. She snapped it shut and spotted Gar. Instead of making the disgusted face she usually used when looking at him she smiled brightly, almost falsely, and waved. She walked over and sat down across from him. "Hello Gar!" She gushed.

"Uh...hi Kitten."

She batted her eyelashes at him in a way that made him think of gagging. "I'm surprised to see you here! I come here all the time."

He raised an eyebrow. "That's funny. 'Cuz I'm here almost everyday after school, friend of my folks owns the place, and I've never seen you here."

Kitten's smile faltered but only for a second. "Don't be silly Beast Boy," He blanched at the way she said his nickname. "Of course you've seen me here."

If Gar was supposed to fall for the sweet innocent act then he felt insulted. With Kitten nothing was ever sweet and definitely not innocent. Kitten always, _always_, had a hidden agenda. And Gar was going to find it. "Noooo...I haven't. Admit it Kitten, you've never even set foot into this place."

Kitten's dace darkened slightly and she sighed. "All right Logan, you got me. I need some information.

Gar eyed her suspiciously. "About what?"

Kitten began to twirl some of her blonde hair around her finger and tilted her head to the side in a way most guys found cute. Gar just found it annoying. "About Dick." She purred

"What about him?" Gar was beginning to get nervous. Kitten and Dick had had a 'fling' earlier in the year just before he started dating Raven. And by fling Gar meant one date. One date that sent Kitten head over heels for the soccer star. When he'd gone to Raven Kitten had been, in nice terms, extremely pissed. She'd never gotten over Dick, or forgiven Raven.

"Well..." She batted her eyelashes creepily again. "Has he mentioned anything about me?"

Gar grinned. "Only that he sees you in his nightmares."

Kitten's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Haha. Very funny Logan. I'm serious!"

He grinned. "So am I princess."

Her face darkened and for a fraction of a second Gar was afraid she was going to hurt him. Instead she just smiled that same bright, false, smile she'd given when she'd first spotted him. "Well okay then. Thanks anyways."

She got up and walked out of the club. Gar shook his head at her and took a sip of his Sprite. There was something very wrong with that girl. But she was perfectly harmless.

...Wasn't she?

L7

Outside the club Kitten looked ready to kill. She ground her teeth together viciously and wished she hadn't just gotten her nails done. Then she could have smacked that little grass stain back there. She grabbed her cell phone and flipped it open.

She dialed the number and waited a few minutes for someone to pick up. After a few seconds she was about to give up when an agitated voice picked up the phone.

"Hello? Terra here and you'd better have a good reason for bothering me!"

Kitten smiled. "Cool your jets Ter, it's me."

"Kitten? What do you want? I'm kinda in the middle of something." She giggled from the other end of line and Kitten raised an eyebrow.

"Who's over you're house?"

Terra's response was to giggle again. "Just a friend." She paused for minute. "Roy! Knock it off," She moaned happily. "Come on I'm on the phone."

Kitten's nose wrinkled. "Okay save it for a minute. Listen I'm coming over in an hour so whatever you're doing; do it fast!" She shut the phone quickly before Terra could argue.

Kitten began to walk down the street with a wicked smile on her face. She was going to get her dear Dick if it was the last thing she did. Goth slut or no goth slut.

Kitten had claws and she was going to use them. Me-ow!

L7

Well there's chapter 4. The plot is thickening! I'm so sorry this took so long to get out but they stopped playing new episodes and I sort of lost my muse. It's back now though so hopefully chapter 5 won't take as long to get out! I promise I'm going to finish this fic, even if it takes me forever!

**_Thanks to all of you who reviewed:_**

xox.Annie Potter.xox, star/rob bb/rae 4 eva, SoulOfALioness, The Samurai Pizza Cat, Ldy-FloR, mi/ri, jaques-lefrou, lady of the darkness055, prncssGrl, solodancer, and Titan6


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans. But I'm thinking if I did I'd still write Fanfiction just for the fun of it.

**Title: **Life As We Think We Know It

**Summary:** Strange visions have been haunting Dick Grayson's sleep, and they've only gotten worse since he met the new girl Kori. He's friend Vic thinks he's just stressed out but could it be that there's more to these dreams then everyone thinks...

**Author: **Silverflare07

**Dedication: **To the little voices in my head who will stay awake with me late at night and listen to me as I write this in my head. Cheers to you guys!

**Author's Notes: **This is going to seem like an AU fic but at the end you'll realize that it's not.

**Stuff you need to know:**

"Speech"

Thoughts or Dreams 

L7L7

Terra sat on her bed staring at her nails while Kitten ranted on about Dick and Raven and how insufferable and rude Garfield was. Beside her Roy rolled his eyes. Their friend was always complaining about something. They'd long ago learned to tune her out.

"And now I want to get them back!"

Until she said something of interest that is. Terra's head perked up and she immediately grinned. When Kitten wanted something done she did it right. And it was always a personal high for Terra to go along for the joy ride. "Right...so what are we doing?"

Kitten narrowed her eyes. "Putting that nasty Raven in her place. I'll take care of that. Terra I need you to keep Logan busy."

Terra raised an eyebrow. "Busy? Why? How?"

"I asked him about Dick earlier today and I think he's beginning to suspect something. And duh- because he's liked you since the beginning of the year. Just pretend to like the little twerp and he'll be so love sick he'll never even think twice about what _I_ might be doing."

Roy nodded. "Sounds nice. What can I do to help?"

"Nothing."

"What?" He face faulted. "You have to let me help!"

Kitten shook her head. "There's nothing for you to do." She saw his hurt look and she sighed. "Look next big scheme you're in."

He nodded. "Oh alright but you owe me big time."

"Whatever." Kitten wave her hand and dismissed him. "Okay here's the deal, Terra Monday I want you to start flirting with him. Then when the time is right I'll take care of the goth and you can dump him and be back in bed with Roy. Shouldn't take more then a week. You with me?" Kitten grinned.

Terra considered it for a minute. "Cool. I'm in. Starting Monday we'll deal with these little problems."

The two girls laughed cruelly together and Roy sweat dropped. Maybe...just this once he was glad not to be part of their crazy little scheme.

...Nah!

L7

Vic and Gar looked at Kori, their jaws dropping on the floor. "A PRINCESS!" they both screeched together.

Kori nodded and looked down at the floor sheepishly. It was like a rerun of yesterday. "You will not tell anyone correct?"

They both nodded, apparently to stunned to from coherent sentences. After a few minutes of awkward silence Raven reached other and gently closed Gar's jaw and Vic's after. The sudden movement seemed to snap the two boys out of their daze and they smiled.

"This is awesome!" Garfield shouted throwing his hands into the air.

"What is?"

Gar grinned. "I've always wanted to party with royalty." He reached behind him and flipped on the stereo. As loud dance music began to flood the living room he grabbed Kori's hands and pulled her up. "Come on babe." He laughed. "Show us how the royals like to work it!"

Kori giggled and began to sway back and forth to the music. Gar joined dancing goofily along side the young girl causing her to giggle. Vic and Dick soon joined in. Even Raven couldn't keep herself from laughing.

The two were quite a site. Kori moving around gracefully and Gar moving to his own beat. Finally Vic sighed. "This isn't right. BB man you aren't doing her justice. Just stop dancing."

Gar made a face but sat down anyways. "And you think you can do better?"

Vic shook his head. "Of course not. I've got two left feet, granted they aren't as left as yours but... they're left all the same."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "You do realize that made no sense what so ever right?"

Vic smiled. "Of course. But that's not important. What is important is that Dick gets off his lazy butt and does this lady some justice."

Kori stopped dancing. "Oh no that is quite all right. He should dance with Raven."

"I don't dance."

"Don't worry about it Kori." Dick said standing up and stretching. "Raven won't mind she's not the jealous type. Come on," He held out his hand. "One dance wouldn't kill me."

The song ended before either one had a chance to begin moving and a slower song began to play. Neither moved for a moment before Gar coughed. "Uh, Dick, no offense man but standing still as a statue doesn't do her any justice either."

"Right!" He put his hands on her hips and she looked at him confused. "What?"

"Is it not customary for the gentleman to hold the ladies hand." She placed one hand on his shoulder and held the other one in the air.

"Oh! I guess you only had _really_ formal dancing in your old home." He realized and he grabbed her hand and let the other one rest lightly on her waist. "Do you know the waltz?"

She nodded and slowly they began to dance to the song, modifying the steps just a bit to match the tempo and beat of the music. And though they had never danced before they moved together as one, in one fluid motion that left their 3 friends speechless.

Raven sat watching her boyfriend and new friend dance together like they had been made to do so at their birth. She knew she should be mad, furious even, that they moved as one when they weren't. But she just couldn't.

And she couldn't stop hearing her latest poem run itself through her head again and again.

L7

Monday morning Dick woke up with a start as his alarm clock snapped him out of his dream world. He shook his head and climbed out from the sanctuary of his covers. He made his way to the bathroom. As he brushed his teeth he looked at his reflection in the mirror and had a sudden vivid image of Kori walking up behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist.

He shook his head and spat the toothpaste into the sink. He had to stop thinking like that. Saturday's little get together had left him with a stomach full of butterflies and no idea why this girl was affecting him so much.

He hadn't even known her a week. It was just hormones, he finally decided, after all Kori was a very attractive girl. It was only natural that she would stir feelings inside of him. It was absolutely, perfectly normal.

...Wasn't it?

He pulled into the parking lot and met up with Vic and Raven at the entrance to the school. "Where's Gar and Kori?" He asked.

Raven shrugged. "I haven't seen either of them. Maybe Gar's showing her why American's do it best."

It took a moment for him to catch the meaning of her words. A while ago they had come a across a saying 'why's it called _French_ kissing if American's do it the best?' In a moment of child like innocence Dick had completely missed it's meaning. Even though he had gotten it a few seconds later his friends had never let him live it down.

Dick was just about to comment on that when said boy came running towards them his arms akimbo and his face lost somewhere between nervousness and excitement. "DUDES! OH MY GOD DUDES!"

He reached them and was bouncing on the ball of his heels in his eagerness to tell them whatever it was that he was keeping bottled inside. "Calm down Gar, now calmly explain to us what in the world is making you so crazy!" Raven demanded.

"You guys have to come quick! Kori just meant Kitten for the first time and things are not pretty!"

"How not pretty?" Vic asked.

"Cat fight not pretty." Garfield told them, all his nervousness was back. "WE GOTTA GO!"

The four friends took of in the direction of the soon to be fight.

L7

Kori stepped of the bus and took a sip of her coke. She began walking towards the school entrance where she was supposed to be meeting her friends but instead she bumped into a blonde girl, knocking her to the ground.

"I am most sorry." Kori apologized as she offered the girl a hand up.

The girl looked at her hand for a moment before glaring nastily at her. "YOU WITCH!" She screamed drawing a crowd of spectators. "You did that on purpose!"

Kori looked at the girl astonished. Hadn't she just apologized? It had been an accident after all. "No not at all. I merely was not paying attention." She still had her hand outstretched to help the girl up.

Her hand was smacked away. "Save it! No one messes with Kitten and gets away with it."

Kori sighed exasperated. "I said I was sorry! Is that not enough!"

Kitten just 'hmph'ed. "Just stay out of my way you tramp."

Kori's eyes flashed dangerously and narrowed at the pompous blonde walking away from her. No one had ever insulted her in such a way. To say that she was as low as to degrade herself and her body for...for... Kori's anger seized her and she threw her soda at the girl.

The dark liquid spilt over Kitten's white top and checkered skirt. It rolled down her legs to puddle in her expensive looking shoes. Her blonde hair was now very wet, very sticky, and not nearly as perfect looking as she liked it to be. Slowly, almost lethally she turned to face Kori.

"YOU. RUINED. MY. OUTFIT!" Kitten launched herself at Kori ready to pay the girl back ten fold.

Or she would have if Dick Grayson hadn't chosen that moment to step in between her and her target.

L7

The four friends arrived at the scene just in time to see Kori throw her soda at Kitten. Vic whistled when it hit the mark. "That girl's got some aim."

Dick smirked. "You should see her when she play's volleyball."

Dick watched Kitten's face darken and knew exactly what she was going to do. He trusted that Kori could handle herself if push came to shove but she didn't seem to be the type to fight back _unless _push came to shove and that was trouble he thought would best be avoided.

He pushed his way through the crowd and stood securely in front of Kori. As Kitten neared them he gently grabbed both her arms and prevented her from moving. A chorus of 'ohhhhhhhh' went up from among the students.

"All right, what's going on here?" A chilling voice called through the crowd as a tall muscular man made his way through the crowd. "Ahhh, Mr. Grayson, causing more trouble I see."

"No! I was stopping Kitten from attacking Kori."

Immediately Kitten dropped her vicious face and replaced it with her cute one. From underneath coke matted hair she batted her blue eyes at him. "I wasn't going to attack anyone sir, Kori knocked me down then, when I tried to leave without any confrontation, she threw her soda at me. I was just going over to ask her why she did it when Dick grabbed me."

The whole school rolled their eyes at Kitten's attempt to save herself. However, the man simply smiled. "Oh course Kitten," Kitten almost purred. "As for you two," He rounded to Dick and Kori. "Mr. Grayson you know the rules. And Ms Anders isn't it?" Kori nodded ashamed. "Well I would hope that they had better manners at your old school. I'll see you both in detention today after school. 2:30 sharp." He pulled out two detention passes and handed them over. "Move along!" He barked to the rest of the students. "Get to class!"

The rest of the students did as they were told and scrambled off to class. Soon only Dick, Kori, Raven. Gar, and Vince were left standing in front of the school building. Kori was staring at the small pink slip in her hand with a look of disbelief. "Who...who was that?"

"Slade." Dick replied grinding his teeth together.

"What Dick means to say is that's Mr. Slaton Descow. The principal. Dick and Mr. Descow never really got along; actually Mr. D doesn't really get along with _anybody_ except maybe Kitten. He and Dick just clash a lot more then the other students." Vic clarified.

"Slade is just Dick's oh so charming nickname for our beloved principal."

Kori crushed the pink piece of paper in her hand. "I do not like that man!" She declared suddenly.

"Me neither Kori...me neither." Dick replied as they all headed off to their first class.

"Hey on the plus side at least we got to see what a drowned Kitten looks like!" Gar chirped happily. His four friends gave him an annoyed look.

"GAR!"

L7L7

There's chapter 5. I told you I would have it out sooner then last time. I hope you guys like it and the plot's not taking to long to develop.

Well R&R and let me know!

**_Thanks to all of you who reviewed:_**

**_thugette90, xox.Annie Potter.xox, Titan6, Stardust-Memory, rob star 4 ever_******

****


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans. But I'm thinking if I did I'd still write Fanfiction just for the fun of it.

**Title: **Life As We Think We Know It

**Summary:** Strange visions have been haunting Dick Grayson's sleep, and they've only gotten worse since he met the new girl Kori. He's friend Vic thinks he's just stressed out but could it be that there's more to these dreams then everyone thinks...

**Author: **Silverflare07

**Dedication: **To the little voices in my head who will stay awake with me late at night and listen to me as I write this in my head. Cheers to you guys!

**Author's Notes: **This is going to seem like an AU fic but at the end you'll realize that it's not.

**Stuff you need to know:**

"Speech"

Thoughts or Dreams 

L7

Dick tapped his pencil against his desk boredom clearly written on his face. Beside him Kori scribbled something on her math homework before quickly punching some numbers into her calculator. They were both currently serving their detention and Kori was making the best of her time. Dick really didn't want to do his homework but it looked like there wasn't much else for him to do. Sighing dejectedly he pulled out his notebook and began to work on his English assignment.

After a few minutes of total silence, apart from the scratch of pencil on paper, something hit Dick square in the head. He looked up and Kori smiled at him. He looked back down to see that the thing that had hit him was a folded note. He chuckled quietly to himself and unfolded it to see Kori's (apparently) very tidy handwriting.

_Thank you for helping me this morning. I'm sorry I got you in trouble._

Dick smiled and wrote back. Taking careful aim he tossed it lightly onto her desk. She read it and her eyes lit up. Just then the teacher who'd been put in charge of watching them gave a light snore.

Kori giggled quietly before turning to Dick. "Really, thank you very much for stopping her. I was off guard and she might have hurt me."

"It's not a problem. I won't let anyone hurt you." He patted her hand. "After all, you're royalty." Kori blushed. "But mostly because you're my friend and I care about you."

The two sat in embarrassed silence for a few minutes until the teacher coughed and jerked the two teens back into reality. Dick withdrew his hand and gave her a nervous smile. "If Kitten tries anything, I'll be there. We all will."

Kori smiled pleasantly. "Thank you very much. For everything." And as the two teens smiled at each other the world seemed to fall away around them until it was just the two of them.

"You two may go now." Both teens whipped their heads around to see the teacher looking at them. "Detention's over; go on get on with your lives so that I can get on with mine."

They nodded and gathered their things before hurrying out the classroom. As Kori placed her papers in her backpack she failed to notice as a lone piece of paper fluttered to the floor.

_Thank you for helping me this morning. I'm sorry I got you in trouble._

_No problem Kor, absolutely anything for you._

L7

Kitten watched Kori and Dick through one of the windows. She wasn't concealed very well but the teacher was asleep at the desk and Kori and Dick were so wrapped up in each other that even if she had jumped in front of them wearing a spider head they wouldn't have been noticed.

She grinned and grabbed her phone. Flipping it open she punched in some numbers and brought it to her ear. She grinned as a voice picked up on the other line. "Roy! Hi!"

Her smile turned nasty, she had just found the perfect job for Roy 'Speedy' Harper.

L7

Kori and Dick were making their way down the hallway but Kori stopped and put her hands on her hips. "Just admit it! I beat you in volleyball again!"

"No way, I don't do defeat. I just suffer temporary set backs."

Kori rolled her eyes. "No you suffer from denial."

Dick pretended to look offended. "Hey! I'm offended." He gave her a playful shove and she disappeared into an open janitor's closet. When she didn't come right back out he began to get worried. He hadn't heard a thunk but...what if she had hit her head.

Slowly he approached the janitor's closet. Before he got close enough to see anything a hand shot out of the darkness and grabbed his shirt, yanking him into the darkness. He barely stopped himself from falling flat on his face when his attacker giggled.

"That was for shoving me. Now come on I'm sure we're both needed at ho-"

**BAM!**

She was cut of as a strong gust of wind slammed the door. The two teens were completely enveloped in darkness. Her giggled turned to full blown laughter at the strangeness of the whole situation.

Dick didn't find the situation quite as amusing as Kori did. He reached out and, after a few minutes of blindly groping, found the doorknob. He turned it and to his horror it didn't open. Already he could feel the familiar panics of claustrophobia sinking in. He began to bang on the door. "HEY! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME! HELP, WE'RE STUCK IN HERE!" He continued his frantic banging.

Kori looked at him worriedly. She placed a hand on his arm and tried to quiet him. "There is no need to yell like that, I'm sure someone will find us soon."

Dick whipped around to face her. "You don't understand! We're trapped in here! In this small...dark...cramped..._closet_."

Suddenly a light went off in Kori's mind and she smiled gently. "You are afraid of enclosed spaces aren't you?"

"Claustrophobic, yeah?" Dick nodded and began to sweat. "And if we don't get out of here, like, NOW I'm going to have an anxiety attack."

Kori nodded and slowly pushed him down. "Relax. You must relax and think about something else." She sat down next to him. "Perhaps you can try to sleep. There is no telling how long we'll be in here."

He took a deep breath and nodded. She was right. If he could fall asleep then it would be much better. But... "What about you? Won't you be bored?"

Kori shook her head even though he couldn't see her. "No I will be fine. Now go to sleep." She clumsily searched for his face and removed his sunglasses. "You won't be needing these in here."

Dick nodded and closed his eyes. Kori placed his head on her should (not an easy task considering that, even when they were seated, he was taller then her). She ran her hand through his hair like her mother had done for her when she was little.

Often a palace can be a scary place at night for young children and whenever Kori had a nightmare her mother was always there when she called out. She would smile a gentle smile and sing her to sleep. Perhaps that would help Dick as well. Softly she began to sing a song from her home.

Dick couldn't understand the words that Kori was singing, it must have been in her native language but the effects of her soothing voice and gentle ministrations were making it all to easy to fall asleep. He sighed contentedly once before slipping into dreamland.

L7

_Dick was standing in the center of a dark, slightly foggy room. He had the strangest notion that he had been there before. The infinite blackness beyond his light was familiar. Almost comfortingly so. A single spotlight shone down on him, encasing him in a perfect sphere of light. And it did just that, encase him. He found that when he tried to move beyond the light an invisible barrier stopped him. Not being a big fan of enclosed spaces Dick decided to try and push through whatever was blocking him. He placed his hands against the barrier and pushed..._

_"I'm glad...be ... staying with ... long time... not... married."_

_Immediately Dick withdrew his hands. Where had that voice come from? It had sounded just like him but...he hadn't said anything. Shaking off the strange feeling that was creeping into his gut Dick continued to push against the barrier._

_"... not trust ... you did... trust us." This time the voice was feminine and sounded hurt and betrayed._

_"Man... comes to... you got issues." The voice was masculine but at least it wasn't his._

_"... ... best friend... truly evil...go ahead ...you must." It was that same girl's voice and she sounded more betrayed then the last time. It tore Dick's heart out to hear her sound like that but...who was she?_

_"... ... are unwrinkled!" At least the girl sounded happy this time. Relieved too._

_"...think...did this to myself!" It was his voice again and he sounded angry, furious actually._

_"I'll annihilate them... ... make you watch..."_

_The last voice, which was also masculine, made Dick's skin crawl and he suddenly became furious. Throwing his whole weight into it he finally felt his hands slipping through the barrier. His head and upper chest slipped through as well. It was strange to go from the light to the sudden vast darkness. What was stranger still was that his hands, on the dark side of the barrier, were green. Thinking it must have been a trick of his eyes he brought his hands up to rub his eyes. He stopped in surprise as his hands touched his face._

_...Instead of his normal sunglasses his eyes, on this side of the barrier, were covered in a cloth mask..._

L7

Dick awoke with a start to a sudden stream of light. He blinked and realized that he was sitting on the floor and that Kori was sitting next to him beaming happily at the janitor standing bewildered above them. "What in the world are you two doing in here?"

Kori stood up and helped a shaky Dick to his feet. She smiled kindly at the janitor. "We're most sorry for the inconvenience but I tripped and landed in the closet. When my friend tried to help me up the door shut on us both. We tried to leave but it was locked. Thank you so much for saving us!"

The janitor nodded and accepted her story. He stepped back to let them out. "Alright, just be careful this door gets jammed all the time."

Kori nodded and began to lead a still dazed Dick out of the school building. As soon as they were out Kori turned to Dick and laughed. "Well that was certainly an adventure."

Dick nodded, his head still groggy from sleep. "How did the janitor know we where in there?"

Kori shrugged. "He must have needed something from in there. After all it _is_ a janitor's closet.

Dick nodded again. "Okay...how long was I out."

Kori looked at her watch. "Only about 2 hours."

Dick just rubbed his head. Kori laughed and they continued the walk home in silence. They had decided that since they both had practices after school, and Dick's car was getting a tune up and would be undrivable for about 2 weeks, that they would walk home together everyday.

They reached Dick's street first and Kori waved good-bye enthusiastically before turning and skipping, yes skipping, off towards her own street. Dick just shook his head and smiled. Kori was one of a kind that much was certain. He noted that as she skipped away her hair swished back and forth shinning in late afternoon sunlight. She looked almost angelic as she turned one last time to wave good-bye again, the fading sun framing her in an orange and pink light.

He waved back and turned around to go home. He was already looking forward to tomorrow when he could see Kori again. The feelings coursing through him when he thought of her were new but not unwelcome.

And they defiantly weren't hormones.

L7

The shrill ring of the phone rang throughout the Logan household. After a few minutes, when it became apparent that no one was going to pick up, the answering machine did its job.

_"Hey Gar, it's Raven. Could you call me? I really need to talk to someone...and I can't talk to Dick..."_

Gar cursed as he struggled with his keys. There were days when they didn't want to fit in the lock and let him in the house. Today was one of those days. He could hear Raven's voice coming from inside the house as his answering machine took her message. "Hold on Rae, I'm coming."

Aha! Finally the key slid into the lock and turned smoothly opening the door with a small click. From the doorway he could hear the phone ringing. It couldn't be Raven again. She'd obviously just called a few minutes ago.

He tore off down the hallway to get to the phone before the answering machine decided to get it for him. His hand was inches away from the phone when the blasted machine clicked and came to life.

_"Hi! This is the Logan residence," _His own voice echoed through the house. _"We're not here right now but leave your name and number and we'll call you back. At least I will, can't speak for my parents... 'GARFIELD!'" _He chuckled as his mom's voice over lapped his own. _"Just do what you're supposed to. We'll take care of the rest."_

_"Hi...Garfield...It's Terra. I just called to talk and see if maybe you wanted to go to Dick's party with me on Saturday...call me back at 375.9241. Bye."_

Gar's hand froze, hovering over the phone as he replayed the message in his head. Terra wanted to go to Dick's party...with him. She'd given him her phone number. He had Terra's phone number. He grinned and picked up the phone. He clicked the talk button. His hand hovered over the buttons when his grinned faltered. He looked over at the answering machine as he remembered Raven's message.

_...and I can't talk to Dick..._

Raven wanted to talk. But so did Terra. He bit his lip and debated for a few moments on what to do. Finally he decided and began to punch in the numbers.

3-7-5 9-2-4-1

L7

There's chapter 7. Terra's phone number isn't a real phone number. At least it isn't to the best of my knowledge. And don't worry BB isn't getting with Terra. He's just made a serious Beast Boy lapse in judgment.

He will get with Raven. Just like Robin will get with Starfire. I swear it on my life and on my Busbuddy, and that's something I don't swear on normally. Well I hope you guys liked this chapter.

R&R like always!

**_Thanks to all of you who reviewed:_**

**_The Samurai Pizza Cat, thugette90, Mayday Parker, romance rocker, xox.Annie Potter.xox, scathac's warrior, lady of darkness055, Titan6_**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans. But I'm thinking if I did I'd still write Fanfiction just for the fun of it.

**Title: **Life As We Think We Know It

**Summary:** Strange visions have been haunting Dick Grayson's sleep, and they've only gotten worse since he met the new girl Kori. He's friend Vic thinks he's just stressed out but could it be that there's more to these dreams then everyone thinks...

**Author: **Silverflare07

**Dedication: **To the little voices in my head who will stay awake with me late at night and listen to me as I write this in my head. Cheers to you guys!

**Author's Notes: **This is going to seem like an AU fic but at the end you'll realize that it's not.

**Stuff you need to know:**

"Speech"

_Thoughts or Dreams_

L7

After a few rings (in which Gar was extremely nervous he'd been given the wrong number) a voice picked up and he sighed in relief as he recognized the voice on the other line.

"This is Terra, talk to me."

"Hey Terra...It's Gar. I'm just returning your phone call."

"Gar! Hey! I'm glad you got my message. And so soon. I like a guy that doesn't make me wait." She giggled into the phone. "So...about Dick's party…you want to go?"

Gar's face lit up. "You really want to go with me?"

"Of course! Actually I've liked you for a while but I didn't know if you felt the same way...I thought Dick's party was the perfect excuse to ask you."

Gar pinched himself. "Ow!"

"Are you okay?" Terra sounded genuinely concerned.

"Yeah," Gar laughed sheepishly. "I just pinched myself."

"Why on Earth did you do that?"

"Just to make sure I wasn't dreaming."

Terra giggled into the phone. "This had better not be a dream. I'd hate to wake up."

"Me too!"

Miles away in her own home Terra rolled her eyes at his over eagerness. He was sort of cute though...at least the week wouldn't be a total waste. If she was lucky he would just be happy to be near her and she wouldn't have to kiss him or anything like that.

Two hours later her mother called her down to help make dinner and Terra and had to hang up. As she placed her phone back on the cradle she felt a twinge of regret. He was a great person to talk to. She'd never had such an interesting conversation with a person for so long. It was a shame that when this was all over she'd have to dump him.

Shrugging Terra hopped off her bed and ran down to where her mother was waiting in the kitchen.

L7

Gar set down the phone and was sure he'd died and gone to heaven. There had to be some mistake, or this was a dream. He didn't just have a two-hour conversation with Terra. A real conversation. He checked his caller id again.

He had.

He whooped for joy and began to go up to his room and pick out what he would wear Saturday. Sure the party was 5 days away but you could never be too safe. He had to call Dick and thank him for throwing the party in the first place.

"DINNER GAR!" His mom's voice floated up to him.

But first he wanted to eat.

L7

Kori grinned foolishly as she relieved the day over in her head. Dick had captured her attention right away. She'd known better then to try and be anything with him other then friends because he already had Raven and they seemed very happy together. But she'd felt drawn to him, almost magnetically, and she was quite content being just friend.

"Hey little sister." Kori turned to face her sister.

"Hello Blackfire," She answered referring to her sister's nickname. "Might I seek your advice on a matter?"

Blackfire jumped over the back of the couch and landed softly next to Kori. "Of course you can. But nothing's for free."

Kori nodded, her sister often liked to strike deals with her. She was, after all, majoring in business in college. "What is it that you would like?"

"That purple shirt and matching skirt in your closet. I would like to borrow it for a date tomorrow night. The outfit in exchange for my advice."

Kori considered. This was not the most outrageous thing her sister had ever asked for. In fact it seemed perfectly acceptable. "Deal."

The two sisters simply smiled at each other. "Alright then Kori. What's your problem?"

Kori blushed. "It is not a what, I'm afraid, but a who."

"A boy?"

Kori nodded. "Yes. Dick Grayson. I was telling you about him and his friends. I fear I have acquired feelings for him but his dating my other friend Raven."

Blackfire whistled. "Wow sis...that's quite the little dilemma." Kori nodded. "Okay here's what I can tell you. Don't push anything. If it's meant to be it'll happen. Don't break them up. But...that doesn't mean if they do break up you can't go in for the kill!"

Kori gave her a blank look.

"Ask him out Kori. If they break up ask him out."

Kori nodded understanding at once. "Yes of course! But is that not called the rebound?"

Blackfire sighed. "Then wait a few weeks. No more then two, no less then one."

Kori nodded again. "Very well. Thank you for your advice." She slowly began to stand. "I think I shall go to my room and think everything over."

As she walked down the hallway she thought about what her sister had said. It was true that she very much wanted to be with Dick but she knew better then hope for anything. But sometimes she couldn't help but hope. Especially after today. Although he had been asleep most of the time she had been thrilled to be the one to calm him. Thrilled that she had been able to. And of course there was also the note. Hope grew within her with each step she took.

But there was Raven...

Raven was her friend and she seemed happy with Dick and she did not wish to destroy her friend's happiness. Not matter what. Slowly she nodded to herself.

"I will not destroy their happiness." She hung her head. "Regardless of my own."

Silently she continued down the hallway to her room.

L7

Wednesday morning found Gar leaning against the wall of the school waiting for his friends. Or Terra. Who ever he saw first. Last night she had called him and asked him to meet her in the morning. For what she'd refused to tell him but he was willing to go along with it.

A few minutes later he saw a blonde head heading towards him and after a few seconds Terra came into full view.

"Hey Terra!" He waved trying to seem casual and hide his excitement.

"Hey Gar. How was your day off?" Tuesday had been a teacher's day at Jump City High and the students had had a free day to themselves.

"Pretty boring. My friends were all busy. Kori and Raven had a girls' day out and Vic was busy with a French project and god only knows what Bruce had Dick doing yesterday. It was just me."

"That sucks." Terra sympathized. She had spent the day listening to Kitten tell her about Roy's addition to their little team. She wasn't completely thrilled about this news. Roy almost always meant trouble. Not that he wasn't fun to fool around with; he just wasn't a team player.

She shrugged and tuned back into whatever it was that Gar was talking about. "So...about Saturday...what time do you want me to pick you up?"

Terra shrugged again. "How 'bout 6. That's when it starts right?"

Gar nodded. "Great!"

"TERRA!" Kitten shrieked from across the courtyard. Both Gar and Terra flinched. "Terra! Come over here!"

Terra looked apologetic. "Sorry about this. I'll talk to you later." She jogged off towards Kitten and Roy.

Gar sighed happily. Life was going great for Garfield Logan! But he couldn't help but feel like something was nagging at the back of his mind. He just wished he could figure out what it was. He shrugged to himself and walked off into the school building.

From the shadow of the bushes and a large tree Raven watched what had just transpired between her friend and his long time crush and decided that this wouldn't be a good time to talk to him either. Sighing she turned to look for Dick who should be arriving soon with Kori. She'd just have to act like everything was normal.

Even if it wasn't.

L7

"Well? How's it going?" Kitten demanded as soon as Terra had joined them.

"Fine. He's crazy about me. He trusts me. And if he does then they all will."

Kitten scoffed and waved her hand carelessly. "I don't care about the rest of them. Terra your job is to distract Logan. That's it. Roy over here will be taking care of Kori."

Roy grinned almost hungrily, his eyes alive with lust. "Don't worry." His grin turned vicious. "I've got it all planned out. Kori will distract Dick and you can take care of Raven."

Terra's eyes were wide with wonder. "What are you going to do to her? You're not going to kill her are you?"

Both Kitten and Roy burst into laughter. "Kill her? God no. But Kitten found some very interesting information about her."

"I heard Mr. Descow talking to her. Turns out Ms Anders is a princess."

Terra gapped. "A princess!"

Kitten nodded. "Yeah of some tiny country that no one can pronounce except maybe them."

Speedy's smile grew larger. "I did some research about them and their culture. Ya know, know your enemy and all that junk. Turns out it really helps. See they're really proper over there. Do everything old school. Even relationships. The guy 'courts' the girl if he wants to go out with her. He needs her father's approval before a marriage, and sometimes even a relationship, depending on how strict her old man is, can happen. And you know how those old schoolers are about sex."

Terra's eyes widen in recognition. "Of course!"

Kitten grinned. "Kori Anders won't be a problem after Roy's done with her."

"After all," Roy added spelling it out for the girls incase they didn't understand fully. "The one who has his way with the princess is the one she has to stay with."

L7

Okay I know this chapter is almost a page shorter then my other ones but I just thought that was a really good place to end it. I hope you guys aren't to mad.

And yes the rating of this fic is going to go up to T for sexual references but there's nothing descriptive so don't worry about that either. There'll be some drug references in there too but nothing really bad.

I hope you guys are noticing how Raven's beginning to feel her relationship with Dick dissolving. It's supposed to, of course. But not to worry Raven fans she gets her happy ending too!

And once again sorry to all the Speedy fans out there! I love him to but every story needs a jerk and I'd already decided that Slade was going to be the principal and I didn't think, nasty as he is, the principal would be the person to do what Speedy's gonna do for Kitten.

R&R as always!

_**Thanks to all of you who reviewed: **_

_**RoBiNxStAr FAN, WW, lady of darkness055, The Violet Raven, scathac's warrior, Titan6**_


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans. But I'm thinking if I did I'd still write Fanfiction just for the fun of it.

**Title: **Life As We Think We Know It

**Summary:** Strange visions have been haunting Dick Grayson's sleep, and they've only gotten worse since he met the new girl Kori. He's friend Vic thinks he's just stressed out but could it be that there's more to these dreams then everyone thinks...

**Author: **Silverflare07

**Dedication: **To the little voices in my head who will stay awake with me late at night and listen to me as I write this in my head. Cheers to you guys!

**Author's Notes: **This is going to seem like an AU fic but at the end you'll realize that it's not.

**Stuff you need to know:**

"Speech"

_Thoughts or Dreams_

L7

It was Friday afternoon, one day until Dick's party, and Raven still hadn't been able to talk to Garfield yet. He was too wrapped up in Terra to even realize she was there, let alone be able to talk to her. She really wasn't all that mad at him for it though. She knew how long he'd liked Terra for. In fact she'd be the first one he'd told about his crush. She and Dick may have been going out but she'd been able to talk to Gar the best since they'd become friends. Different has they appeared on the outside they found they were quite similar on the inside.

Speaking of her relationship with Dick...Raven sighed. She could feel it crumbling around her like the walls of an ancient building. Things had been different between them since Kori came. Just a little at first but now it was like they were back to being just friends. He didn't hold her hand or kiss her or any of the other boyfriend-ish things he used to do. The sparks she'd always thought were there quite suddenly weren't anymore.

But then again, she reasoned with herself, had they ever really been there at all. She and Dick had been friends for a long time, and out of the four she would have to say that Dick was her best friend. Everyone had simply assumed that they would get together and live happily ever after. That was always how it went. The clichés. Girl falls for her best friend, he falls for her, they live happily ever after. After all they'd been through together. After almost 5 months (Raven's longest relationship to date) could it really be that the sparks could have simply been imagined.

Raven shook her head. She needed to talk to someone. Actually she needed to talk to Gar. Neither Dick not Kori would be of any help in the situation and she'd never really talked to Vic about something as serious as this but...

"Hey little lady?" Speak of the devil and he will come. Vic sat next to her on the bench. He looked concerned. "What's up? You look like someone stole your dog."

Raven sighed. "Or my Dick."

Victor raised an eyebrow. "Oooookay...is there a lil something you're not telling us Rae...?"

Raven glared at him. "You know what I mean."

Vic nodded. "Yeah about him and Kori."

Raven sighed dejectedly. "I don't know what to do...I mean I know I should be mad but...I'm not. Does that mean there was never anything there for me and Dick in the first place?"

Vic shrugged. "That's hard to say. I could never see you two as a couple, you were too alike, but that doesn't mean it could never happen. For a while you guys seemed really happy together but I dunno I guess it just died out. It became more like an act."

Raven looked down at the ground. He was right. It had been an act, for both of them she was sure. She looked up at Vic and gave a weak smile. "Yeah...I think you're right."

Vic shrugged. "Don't me wrong though, Dick loves you just not that way."

Raven sighed. "That would explain why I can't be mad at either one of them. It's really not their fault. It's mine for letting him slip away from me."

Vic shook his head. "It's not really anyone's fault Rae. These things just happen. Even if Kori hadn't come along both you and Dick would have realized that it wasn't what you really wanted, eventually."

"It still hurts though." Vic put a comforting arm around her shoulder. "Of course it hurts Rae. It always hurt a little bit. Even if you can't stand the other person. What you guys had was special and just because you don't have it anymore doesn't make it any less special. After all would you rather have never gone out with him or go your separate ways peacefully and keep all the wonderful memories?"

Raven thought for a second. "I guess you're right. It was just really nice to be with someone who cared about me," He gave her a 'we all care about you' look, "that way." She amended when she caught it.

Vic stood up suddenly. "Hey I got to go Bee's over there waiting for me. But if you need to talk more I'll be home later."

Raven smiled. "So that's what you're doing in the park. And thanks but now I think I just need to think things over. Maybe not everything's completely lost between me and Dick."

Vic shrugged again. "Maybe." He turned and began to jog towards his girlfriend. He stopped suddenly and turned around. "Oh and about what you said before...There's a little green grass stain that cares about you very much. He's just..._distracted_...right now. Hormones will do that to a guy." Then he turned and jogged away.

It took Raven a moment to grasp on to his meaning and when it did hit her she gasped and dropped her book which landed with a thud at her feet.

_Gar?_

L7

Saturday morning Dick didn't wake up until after 12 and when he went downstairs he found Alfred already setting out food for the party. This confused Dick a great deal. Not only did the party not start until 6 that night but he hadn't told Alfred about it at all. Bruce was still out of town, his presence still required at the Texas branch of the Wayne Corp., and he'd known Alfred wouldn't care. "Uh...Alfred..." Dick yawned and rubbed his eyes as he stepped down the stairs.

Alfred looked up from where he was arranging a table full of sodas and, Dick smirked, a box of herbal tea for Raven. "Good Morning Master Richard. I trust you slept well."

Dick nodded. "I slept fine but um...how did you know about my party."

Alfred smiled sneakily. "An old man has his ways." He winked before striding off into the kitchen to get more food. Behind him Dick just blinked in confusion.

Oh well, whatever. Now he had almost 4 hours to kill before the party and he knew exactly what he was going to do with them. Go to the mall and see the new horror movie that had come out recently.

He walked out into the garage and looked for his mustang before remembering that it was still in the shop. And would be so for another week at least. Sighing he grabbed the helmet sitting on the workbench next to the door and walked over to his motorcycle. He would just have to take that.

He revved up his engine and speed out of the garage and into the road turning towards the direction of the mall. If he made it there fast enough he could get there for the 2:30 showing.

He pulled into the parking lot and checked his watch. 2:00 on the dot. It looked like he'd have to kill some time walking around the mall. He entered through the large glass doors and just stood for a moment enjoying the cool air-conditioned air. It was a warm day out but he liked to wear his long sleeved, black, leather jack when he rode his motorcycle. It made him feel safer.

He debated briefly on where he should go before deciding on FYE (For Your Entertainment) and walking into the large music/movie store. He walked straight over to the CDs and began searching for one that he liked. The new Fall Out Boy CD had just recently come out and he grinned when he saw it. Picking it up he whistled as he made his way to the cash register.

After successfully paying for the CD he began to head to the door. Being the son, adopted or no, of a millionaire meant you always knew to be polite to people you were doing business with so he turned his head to tell the man thank you and to have a nice day when he walked into someone.

Without thinking his hand reached out to steady the person he'd bumped into, who was obviously much lighter then he was (he could tell by the way he'd barely stumbled after their collision). He looked up to apologize and was meet with a pair of sparkling jade eyes.

"Hello Dick!" Kori greeted a smile plastered on her face. "I did not think I would be meeting you here."

Dick shook his head once and smiled. "Hey Kor. I just came to see a movie but I got to the mall early so I thought I'd kill some time and bought a CD?" He held up the plastic bag containing his newly purchased merchandise.

Kori nodded. "I am here to pick up a movie for my sister and I tomorrow night. I'm just not sure how I'm going to find it in all of this." She waved her hand towards the endless rows of movies around them.

Dick grinned. "What are you looking for? I'll help you find it."

Kori beamed and clasped her hands together happily. "Oh thank you so much! It is most appreciated. I am looking for a movie called The Ring."

Dick leaned over her and plucked a movie from the display behind her. "This what you're looking for?"

She studied the cover for a second before nodding and turning an adorable shade of pink. "Yes it is. I cannot believe I did not see that." She took the movie from his hands and quickly scurried over the register to pay for it, Dick's throaty laughter following her.

When she returned to him a moment later he smiled. "So...what are you going to do now?"

Kori shrugged. "Return home I suppose. There's not much else to do right now."

"You wanna catch the movie with me? I'm seeing The Amityville Horror."

Kori smiled. "I would love to but I'm afraid I brought only enough money for the movie I just bought."

Dick grinned again. "No problem I'll pay for you."

"Are you sure?"

"It's no problem, really. After all what's being a rich man's son if you can't treat your friends to a movie every now and then."

She bit her lip hesitantly for a moment before nodding. "Well alright then. If you are sure."

"Completely."

The two walked off towards the theater.

L7

An hour and a half later Dick understood why she'd been so hesitant to except his invitation. It wasn't the money issue at all. Scary movies terrified her. Which is what they're supposed to do technically but Dick was guessing she didn't have anything like that in her home country. Hell even _he'd _been a bit freaked out.

Kori had spent almost the entire movie clinging to his arm and burying her face in his shoulder. He wrapped an arm securely around her shoulder and made a mental note to watch as many scary movies with Kori as he could.

Not that he wanted to send her into a permanent, fear induced coma, but it was rather nice being able to protect her. Even if it was just from the monsters in the movie. Raven adored scary movies and had never sought such protection from him, or anyone, even after they had started going out. Dick had been born with a particularly protective nature and he never felt more useful then when he was keeping someone safe from whatever it was that haunted them.

And he'd never felt quite as satisfied with himself then when he was protecting Kori. It was a nice feeling, to know that a simple squeeze of her shoulders calmed her down.

Together they walked out into the parking lot and Dick briefly wondered what Kori's car looked like. "Hey uh, Kori...where's your car?"

She blinked and looked at him for a moment. "I do not own a car. Back home people drove me around everywhere but I insisted on learning to drive. Of course then I came to America and you all drive differently here so I will have to learn all over again."

"Then how'd you get here?"

She motioned over to a bench a few feet away where a few random people were sitting. "I rode the bus. I would have walked but it was to far, even for me."

Dick nodded in understanding then jerked a thumb at his bike. "You wanna ride home. I'm pretty sure there's an extra helmet in the side compartment."

She looked at it curiously for a few seconds before cocking her head to the side looking confused. "What type of car is this?"

Dick was floored. "You mean you've never seen a motorcycle before?" Kori shook her head. "Them I'm definitely giving you a ride home! You haven't lived until you've ridden a motorcycle." He patted the bike affectionately. "Hop on."

She sat down and he reached for the side compartment and pulled out the extra helmet. He handed it to her. "Here wear this." He sat down in front of her and revved up the engine. "Hold on to me or you'll go flying." She did as she was instructed and her slender arms encircled his waist.

"Ready?" He felt her nod against his back.

"Here we go!" He pulled out into the main street and began to pick up speed. He could hear Kori's shouts of joy and laughter as he lifted up the front wheel and glided smoothly on only his back one. He was showing off, he knew, but Kori's enthusiasm and joy were very contagious.

When they arrived at her house 10 minutes later Kori hopped off the bike and handed the helmet back to him. "That was most enjoyable you must take me again sometime." She giggled her face flushed from the wind and her jade eyes sparkling happily.

He laughed with her. "Anytime. I'll see you at the party tonight." He glanced at his watch; it was already 5:15. Where had the time gone? "See you in a bit." The engine roared to life once again and he sped off leaving Kori to watch him until he turned the corner.

A large smile spread over her face and she squealed as quietly as possible before running inside to shower and change for the party.

L7

30 minutes later Dick was showered and refreshed and ready for people to arrive. Or more specifically, ready to Kori to arrive. He was looking forward to teaching her how to dance like a normal teenager. He knew Raven wouldn't care...even if maybe she should.

He needed to sit down and think about his relationship with Raven, he really did. What they were, what they had been, and what they would become. Everything had seemed simple until Kori had entered the picture. He really liked Kori maybe even, he gulped, loved her (which confused him because he'd barely known her two weeks). But he loved Raven too, it was just...a different kind of love.

He sighed and rubbed his temples. He was just going to give himself a headache if he continued at this rate. The sound of the doorbell knocked him off his train of thought and he quickly jumped up to answer.

He opened the door to let Gar, Terra, who had Gar's arm around her waist, Vic, his girlfriend, and Raven into the house.

"Hey guys!" Dick greeted and Gar and Terra sparred him a nod before heading out to dance floor. Dick noted with some amusement that Gar was still dancing as goofily has he had been at his house last Saturday. Vic and his girlfriend quickly joined their friends and Dick was proud to see that Vic seemed to have shed his two left feet and gained a right one. Something about being with his 'Bumble Bee' did that to him.

Dick turned to face Raven, already knowing what she wanted. "Alfred put a box of herbal tea of the refreshment table for you." He shot her a lop-sided grin.

She smiled, looking as if she expected something more, but only for a moment, before turning and going to get her tea. Oh yes he was definitely going to have to figure out where he stood with Raven and where he stood with Kori and how they contrasted or fit together or did whatever it was they were going to do.

The doorbell sounded again and he opened it to find a bunch of his soccer buddies, all holding onto a girl. They greeted him with smiles, 'hey's, and pats on the back and Dick realized that figuring out his relationship was going to have to wait. He had a party to host.

He saw Kori walking up the walkway looking absolutely breathtaking.

And a very special guest to greet.

L7

Okay! There's chapter 8! I hope you guys liked it. This one's a bit longer then chapter 7 to make up for the shortness of chapter 7.

Next chapter the big bash goes down and so does Kitten's plan. Can she pull it off without a hitch? Can Terra? Can Speedy?

I know that whole thing with Raven talking to Cyborg was kind of random and out there since I've been pushing how much she wants to talk to Beast Boy but I realized that Cyborg hasn't really had any real major part in the story and while the story mainly focuses of Robin and Star I want to try and include the whole team in. Hope it didn't throw you guys off to bad. Thanks for reading!

Just a quick question... I feel like I'm losing readers/reviewers. Now it might just all be in my head but if it's not could you tell me what I'm doing wrong? It's greatly appreciated.

Don't forget to R&R! I live for feedback.

**_Thanks to all of you who reviewed:_**

**_Titan6, scathac's warrior, xox.Annie Potter.xox, lil' LIK Star, The Samurai Pizza Cat_**

****


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans. But I'm thinking if I did I'd still write Fanfiction just for the fun of it.

**Title: **Life As We Think We Know It

**Summary:** Strange visions have been haunting Dick Grayson's sleep, and they've only gotten worse since he met the new girl Kori. He's friend Vic thinks he's just stressed out but could it be that there's more to these dreams then everyone thinks...

**Author: **Silverflare07

**Dedication: **To the little voices in my head who will stay awake with me late at night and listen to me as I write this in my head. Cheers to you guys!

**Author's Notes: **This is going to seem like an AU fic but at the end you'll realize that it's not.

**Stuff you need to know:**

"Speech"

_Thoughts or Dreams_

* * *

Half an hour later the party was in full swing. Over half the school was present at what would soon become the party of the year. Music poured out from the many speakers situated around the house and everyone was dancing. A few of the more rowdy guests had grabbed an empty soda bottle and started a game of spin the bottle. Most everyone else, however, was dancing.

Dick watched from his spot next to Raven as Kori swayed to the beat. Turns out she already knew how to dance like everyone else, and very well at that. She'd already danced with a handful of guys and was now just enjoying some solo movement.

"Come on Rae, let's dance."

Raven looked up at Dick in surprise. It was the first boyfriend-ly thing he'd said to her in about a week. And of course it had to be about dancing. Something Raven hated doing. She sighed, if she wanted to have any chance of saving her relationship with Dick, or what was left of it, then she'd have to meet him halfway. If he wanted to dance then...

"Sure."

The two moved onto the dance floor and began to move together. Raven wasn't nearly as good a dancer as Kori but the two still managed all the same. Dick placed his hands on her hips and she moved closer. To observer's they must have seemed like every other couple in the room. Blissful, happy, and unaware of the people around. But Raven could feel it. Dick was tense, or at least he wasn't where he really wanted to be.

She didn't move as well with him as Kori did. And she knew they could both sense it. "Dick?"

He looked down at her. "Yeah?"

"You know dancing not really my thing...but thanks for offering." She would make it easier for them both. "I'm going to go make some more tea."

Dick nodded understandingly. Dancing wasn't Raven's thing, he never should have asked her to do so in the first place. But he'd felt like he should still _act_ like a good boyfriend, even if he really wasn't. "Sure, no problem. I'll just keep dancing...is that okay."

Raven sucked in her breath and nodded slowly. It was bound to happen anyway...so what was the harm in pushing it along. "I don't think Kori has a dance partner right now, you should go dance with her."

Dick's face brightened up immensely at the suggestion. "Yeah okay!"

Raven left to go make her tea and Dick made his way over to Kori. Or tried to. The room was so crowded with partygoers that he could barely move three feet without being blocked by someone. Finally, after five minutes of struggling and pushing his way through the crowd he managed to make it to wear Kori was. His heart plummeted in his chest.

Kori was dancing with Roy.

* * *

Kori swayed to the beat of the song that was currently pouring out of Dick's many speakers. She had been hoping she would get a chance to dance with Dick but he had been by Raven's side all night. Still, she had to admit, she was having fun.

"Hey there pretty lady."

Kori stopped dancing and turned to face Roy. He threw her a dashing smile but she simply shook it off. "Hello Roy."

Her cold tone didn't go unnoticed and Roy cocked his head to the side in confusion. "You sound mad? Did I upset you?"

Her glare became indifferent. "I know that you are merely talking to me for sex."

_Bingo!_ Out loud, however, Roy pretended to be hurt. "I see you've heard of my reputation. But you have to understand. All those girls, they came on to me! Now I know that I should have told them to stop. I'll admit that, but I can't help it if I'm a slave to my hormones. You'll find that most boys in America are."

Kori eyed him skeptically. It was true that reputations could be given instead of earned, but that didn't mean that was the case for Mr. Speedy Harper. "I see."

Roy could sense that she still didn't believe him. Just about _anyone_ could sense that she still didn't believe him. "Listen, I came over here tonight to ask you if you wanted to dance. Just one dance. Then if you still hate me I'll call it quits. Deal?"

Kori looked at his outstretched hand and raised an eyebrow. She grabbed his hand and shook it. "Deal. But I highly doubt that you can change my mind with one dance."

Roy grinned as a more Latin sounding pop dance blared through the speakers. He lifted her hand, still clutched in his, and spun her around gently. "Well then you've never seen me dance before."

He dipped her low and smiled. _One dance is all it'll take. Don't worry Kitten; I've got your back._

* * *

The song ended and Kori grinned at her dance partner, her face flushed and her body hot and sweaty. "That was most entertaining. You certainly kept me on my feet." She fanned herself with her hand.

"You look hot." Roy smiled sympathetically. He was feeling the heat from their constant motion as well.

"I am a bit hotter then we started." Kori admitted, laughing at herself.

"Well then let me get you a drink." Roy offered her a gentlemanly smile and she nodded.

"That would be wonderful! Thank you!"

Roy walked away and his smile became evil. "Oh so very wonderful indeed Kori."

He reached the drink table and poured himself a cup of Sierra Mist before pouring Kori a cup of Coke. Easily the darkest drink there (there was no alcohol) and the one whose taste would affected the least. He checked quickly to make sure no one was looking and pulled a small plastic bag out of his pocket. He dumped the two white tablets onto his hand and slipped them in her drink.

A dose or two of ecstasy should loosen Kori up wonderfully.

"Here ya' go." Roy handed Kori her drink and watched with excited eyes as she downed the whole thing in one gulp.

"That was most refreshing Roy. I thank you again."

Roy grinned. "Not a problem. Absolutely not a problem."

She eyed him suspiciously as she drained what little she had left of her drink. She didn't have time to ponder his actions because a new song came on and he grabbed her hands and pulled her closer.

"One more dance?"

Kori giggled, enjoying the sudden feeling of lightness she'd gotten. "Of course I would!" She threw her hands up over her head and began to sway wildly.

Roy smiled. It seemed little miss princess was already feeling the effects of the 'present' he slipped into her drink. Kori moved closer, pressing herself against him. She began to grind with him, getting as close as humanly possible.

Roy was surprised. He hadn't known ecstasy was also an aphrodisiac. Not that he was complaining of course. The feeling of her small frame pressed against his was something he quite enjoyed. Kori turned around to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Suddenly it seemed that dancing wasn't enough because Kori brought her lips up to Roy's. Caught by surprise by her sudden, bold actions it took Roy a few minutes to register that her tongue had slid inside his mouth and was exploring as it pleased.

He moaned and wrapped his arms around her waist. Whatever the hell the drugs were doing to her wasn't bad. Surprising yes, but not bad. Not in the least. His job was going to be that much easier.

A few minutes later he broke off the kiss grinned. It was time. "Hey Kori," He grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. "How's about we get out of here?"

Kori's head was fuzzy and things around her where swimming in and out of view. "But...where would we go?"

"We could go back to my house," He kissed the corner of her mouth and was pleased to hear her moan. "And just..._relax._"

Kori's head was still spinning and relax did sound like a very nice word. Roy was a very nice person. She would have done whatever he'd asked. If only she could stop the world from spinning around her. Slowly she nodded, cringing a bit as the motion hurt her already sore head.

Roy's smile widened. "Great!" He gently pulled her to the exit.

While a small voice in the back of her head told her this was wrong Kori seemed to have lost all control of her body functions and followed Roy obediently.

* * *

Dick watched with clenched fists as Kori threw herself at Roy. He could feel his anger rising, could see the red spots flash before his eyes. Roy must have pulled something. There was no way that Kori could ever like a guy like Roy.

He felt his teeth begin to grind together in anger as Roy lead Kori to his front door. Roy was pulling his famous moves. He tricked poor, innocent Kori into thinking he was in love with her and now he was going to take what he wanted and leave her heartbroken.

Dick growled. Like hell he would! Dick pushed up his sleeves (even though they were already short) and stormed out after them. If Roy thought he was going to have his way with Kori then he was wrong.

Dead wrong.

He pushed the large oak doors open and stomped down the walkway. He reached them just as Kori was fumbling onto Roy's motorcycle. She jammed the helmet on her head and just as Roy was about to start the engine Dick made his presence known.

"ROY!"

Roy looked up and grinned. All according to plan. "Hey _Dick_."

Dick growled. When Roy said his name he made it sound so disgusting. It made Dick's skin crawl. "And just where the hell do you think you're going?"

Roy shrugged nonchalantly. "No where special. Kori here just decided she wanted to go to my place. It's not a crime."

"Over my dead body!"

Roy grinned again and got off his bike. "Is that a threat?"

"Damn straight!"

Roy's smile widened showing his pointed canine teeth. "Good."

Dick didn't wait to let him finish. He raised his fist and brought it straight in Roy's face. Kori gasped in surprise and Roy shook of his shock with a smile.

"Not bad Dick." He wiped the small trickle of blood that was coming from his mouth. "But you shouldn't have done that."

He pulled back his fist and grinned again. "You really shouldn't have done that." Then, he let his fist fly.

Kori screamed and shut her eyes.

* * *

Raven watched as Dick's heart broke as they both watched Kori suddenly lean up and kiss Roy. She could almost feel the knife stabbing into his heart and ripping it to shreds. Now all he had to do was turn around, give up, and come back over to her. Things could go back to normal now.

She watched with wide eyes as Kori followed Roy, somewhat clumsily, out of the house. She knew where this was going, and she knew Dick knew it too. _Come on,_ She pleaded with him silently. _Just turn around and walk away._

Dick chased after them and was out the door before Raven could blink. She sighed. It really was over now. He'd chosen and it hadn't been her that he picked. She sighed again and walked up the stairs, past Gar and Terra who were talking animatedly, and out to the balcony.

The balcony overlooked the front yard and she could just see the figures of Dick, Roy, and Kori but she chose to ignore them. She sighed and leaned against the railing. She looked up at the night sky and smiled bitterly at the twinkling stars.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

She turned surprised to see Gar standing just in front of the door, smiling. She smiled in return despite herself. "Is that all they're worth Gar?"

Gar joined her and shook his head. "Of course not Rae. But at the moment it's all I got."

He smiled sheepishly and she gave a weak laugh. "Thanks Gar."

"No problem. But seriously, what's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. I just...I guess I just finally realized that Dick's in love with Kori, not me."

Gar gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'll be all right."

"You know Rae...Just because Dick doesn't love you doesn't mean that-"

"Well hello Raven! And Gar to, what a surprise!"

Both teens turned to face the surprise intruder and gasped. "Kitten!"

She smiled brightly. "Hi guys! It's just great to see you both out here. Although I was really looking for Raven."

"What do you want?"

"Just to teach you a lesson."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? What could you ever possibly teach me?"

Kitten's eyes narrowed and flashed dangerously. "Not to go messing around with my man!"

Again Raven was bewildered but Gar was starting to catch on. _Has Dick mentioned anything about me?_ She wanted to get to Dick and thought the best way, the only way, was through getting rid of Raven.

Without warning Kitten jumped at Raven, surprising the girl and knocking her off her feet. Kitten yanked her violet hair and pulled her face closer. "Listen you little witch, Dick is _mine_! Not yours, not some stupid foreign princess's, MINE! And if you ever try to screw that up I will-"

Kitten was forced to cut her speech short when Gar lifted her roughly from on top of Raven. "Okay princess you're done."

"WHAT!" She shrieked and Gar cringed. He'd forgotten how unbearably loud Kitten could be when she wanted to. "You put me down!" She began to struggle against him. But Gar was clearly stronger and she remained tight in his grasp.

"Tell you what princess. I'm going to put you down by the door and you're going to walk through and not come back out here...or near Raven, ever again."

Kitten glared at him but said nothing. Taking her silence as a yes he walked over and placed her down by the door. She didn't move towards the door but she didn't move toward Raven either. In fact she didn't move at all. After watching her for a few seconds Gar deemed that she was in too much shock to do anything dangerous and ran over to Raven, who was still lying stunned on the floor.

"Rae, are you okay? She didn't hurt you too bad did she?"

Raven's reply was cut short by a shriek.

"LOGAN!" Gar looked up just in time to see Kitten hurl herself at him.

Natural instinct and self-preservation took control of Gar's motions and before he could comprehend what he was doing he'd grabbed her by the arm and swung her over his shoulder. She shrieked again and went flying over the edge of the balcony into the grass below. There was a subtle 'oof!' and everything was silent for a moment.

Gar looked over the edge of the balcony and began to look for Kitten.

"Don't worry about her." Raven's voice made him stop. He turned to her. "Dick and Roy are down there with Kori. If anything's wrong they'll help her."

Gar nodded and looked at Raven again. She had gotten up and was dusting herself off. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Of course I am. Kitten scared me more then she hurt me."

Gar sighed in relief. "That's good. I can't believe she attacked you."

"It's fine. No harm done. You can go back to Terra."

Gar looked surprised. "But…Terra doesn't matter."

It was Raven's turn to look surprised. "But you...she...this is what you've always wanted."

Gar shook his head. "Terra can wait. You're hurt, emotionally. You're what matters most right now."

Raven could feel her eyes watering up. Felt the unfamiliar sting of tears hiding just behind her eyes. "Gar..." That was as far as she got before she burst into tears. For the first time in years Raven hung her head and cried out her pain and frustration.

Gar just smiled soothingly and took her into his arms. He rubbed her back and waited patiently for her to calm down.

"It's okay now Rae. It's okay now."

And even though the tears refused to stop flowing, deep in her heart, Raven knew it really was.

* * *

Kori opened her eyes again after she was sure she hadn't heard the sickening sound of skin on skin. Slowly she peeked one eye open and saw Dick and Roy exchanging blows and blocks. Neither one seemed to be any worse for the wear, although Roy's mouth was still bleeding and it looked like Dick might have a black eye in the morning.

She gripped the seat in front of her and tried to keep herself steady. Why was everything spinning around her so much? It was all kind of blurry too. Maybe there'd been something wrong with the coke. She felt her stomach lurch and was quickly distracted from the fight.

Dick watched Roy, trying to anticipate his next move. He wanted to end this quickly. Roy moved towards him again and Dick blocked the attack, unleashing a mighty kick to Roy's gut as he did so. Roy stumbled back a few feet and had to take a minute to catch his breath.

"You son of a bitch!" Roy leapt at Dick again, this time actual anger as his fuel. He lashed his fists out in a wave of fury and it was all Dick could do to block them. Even still a few punches landed. A particularly powerful one hit him right in the stomach and sent him flying backwards. He groaned and sat up ready to fight again.

Apparently Roy had the same thought because he had already launched himself toward the unsuspecting boy. Dick watched, wide-eyed, as Roy's fist came towards his face.

What would have been a very painful, and probably fight winning, blow was stopped short as something blonde and blue fell on top of Roy and sent them both spiraling to the ground in an ungraceful heap.

It took Dick a few seconds to realize the ungraceful heap that had saved his life, or at least his nose, was none other then Kitten. And boy did she look livid.

Roy sat up quickly, knocking Kitten to the ground in the process. "Come on pretty boy! Let's finish this fight."

"Oh knock it off Roy." Kitten snapped as she got up, miraculously unhurt from her fall, and dusted off her outfit.

"What?"

"I said knock it off. Obviously tonight didn't go as planned. At all. We'll-" Again she was cut off by a loud thud as Kori slid from the motorcycle and fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Holy shit. What happened to her?" Kitten asked, eyeing the sleeping girl with disgust.

"I think maybe her body couldn't handle the drugs. Are you sure it was only ecstasy you gave me?"

Dick's mind was whirling. Drugs? What the hell where they talking about?

"Well," Kitten flipped her hair. "One was. But I gave you something to...you know...spice things up."

Even Roy wanted to hit her now. "You dumb ass! You don't mix drugs. Ever! The effects could be lethal! No wonder she was so messed up."

"Chill," Kitten flipped her hair again and Roy gritted his teeth in aggravation. His mission had never been to kill the girl. Just to sleep with her. "She's still breathing everything's fine."

Dick, who had been listening in shocked silence, finally regained control of his limbs. He very carefully (so as to not leave any permanent damage) pressed the pressure point that would put them both to sleep; leaving them slumped on the ground. "I'll deal with you two later."

Then he hurried over to Kori and picked her up gently. Apart from being unconscious she was fine. There was no blood anywhere and nothing was twisted in a way that it shouldn't have been. Dick sighed in relief and made his way inside and up the stairs to his room.

He placed Kori gently on his bed and watched her for a few minutes. Roy's words about the drug mixing being lethal had scared him but the steady rise and fall of her chest helped ease some of that fright.

"Sleep tight Kori." Dick placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and left the room silently.

He walked down to the party feeling both relived and weighed down by his latest discovery. What was he going to tell everyone? What was he going to tell Raven? He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice Raven dancing with Gar. If he had he might have taken the time to be surprised that Gar's once horrendous dancing had become smooth and...well...really good.

But of course he didn't see them so he didn't realize that Raven wouldn't be hurt about his discovery. Well, not as hurt as he kept thinking she would be. Even if he had seen them, and he had known it wasn't going to hurt her like he was afraid it would, he still wouldn't have known what to tell her.

After all, how do you tell your girlfriend that you've fallen in love with someone else?

* * *

YAY! I finished chapter 9! This is my longest chapter to date! _:throws confetti: _

And I finally got BB and Raven together! Well...sort of. They're not quite together yet but they're really close. It should happen in either chapter 10 or 11. Robin and Star still have a little ways to go but not much.

Okay here's a quick explanation on Gar's dancing. You all know I kept saying he was really bad at dancing through out the fic but he starts dancing with Raven and **BAM!** He's good. If you remember in the...I think it's the 5th chapter, Cyborg tells us he can't dance very well either but then last chapter he's dancing with Bumble Bee and he's much better. He says that it's dancing with Bumble Bee that helps him be better at it. So it's like when he's dancing with the right girl then he gets more control over his limbs. Same concept with BB. He was still dancing like a goof ball with Terra but once he started dancing with Raven he got better. It's just a way of showing you that they're supposed to be together...ahhh I'm confusing myself, and probably all of you too so I'll just shut up now.

Drop me a review! I love knowing what you guys think!

**_Thanks to all of you who reviewed:_**

**_The Samurai Pizza Cat, Titan6, scathac's warrior, marci16, xox.Annie Potter.xox, thugette90, Star Wars Queen, HRH-Ft-Louie, starfan1, Cream T. Rabbit, Mr. Rogers, Princess of stars, Jedi, SuperrachiE, WW, BlazenHotSun, and to the anonymous reviewer!_**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans. But I'm thinking if I did I'd still write Fanfiction just for the fun of it.

**Title: **Life As We Think We Know It

**Summary:** Strange visions have been haunting Dick Grayson's sleep, and they've only gotten worse since he met the new girl Kori. He's friend Vic thinks he's just stressed out but could it be that there's more to these dreams then everyone thinks...

**Author: **Silverflare07

**Dedication: **To the little voices in my head who will stay awake with me late at night and listen to me as I write this in my head. Cheers to you guys!

**Author's Notes: **This is going to seem like an AU fic but at the end you'll realize that it's not.

**Stuff you need to know:**

"Speech"

_Thoughts or Dreams_

L7

Kori began to stir as light filtered into the room. She groaned and rolled over on her side, trying to block out the annoying sunlight. She was forced into consciousness when she hit the edge of whatever it was she was lying on and fell to the floor in a graceless heap. The sheets she had been wrapped up in curled around her feet and she was having a difficult time undoing herself. Laughter made her stop and look up from her task.

Dick sat in a chair a few feet away, his body shaking with laughter. Kori tried to blow a piece of her auburn hair out of her face. It flopped back down and caused the boy to laugh harder.

"Well I'm glade you find my situation most amusing. I however, wish to be free from your blankets so, if you wouldn't mind, I would appreciate some help."

Still laughing Dick got up from his chair and walked over to the fallen girl. "Of course. By the way...did you know you snore in your sleep?"

Kori flushed red with embarrassment at his statement. "I did not."

Dick smiled again. "No need to be embarrassed I was just kidding."

Kori sent him a glare that normally would have made him feel very frightened. But seeing her tangled up in his sheets and on the floor lessened the effect. "Okay, okay." He gently detangled her from the sheets. "I'm sorry your royal highness."

Kori stood up shakily, her head still woozy from last night's activities. If only she could remember last night's activities. "Tell me? Did you serve alcohol at your party last night?"

Dick blinked in confusion. "No..."

Kori nodded. "Then perhaps you can tell me why I have such a large headache and cannot remember last night's festivities."

"Oh...right. About that..." Dick pulled at his shirt collar, an unfortunate habit he'd picked up when he was nervous. "Well you see...Roy, um, sort of, um, he..." Kori tapped her foot impatiently. "Roy kinda, sorta, maybe, slipped some drugs into your coke last night."

"WHAT!" Her eyes flashed dangerously before her headache struck again and she had to sit down on Dick's bed.

Dick sat next to her. "Yeah, but don't worry. I kicked his ass."

"That is not enough!"

"Huh?"

"I'm going to hurt him _so_ badly when I see him again."

Dick laughed. "Sounds nice, but I wouldn't if I were you."

Kori looked confused. "Why not?"

"Roy's friends with Kitten, who's friends with Mr. Descow...you beat up Roy and it's like beating up Mr. Descow."

"But didn't you just say that..."

"Yeah but Kitten's been after me for awhile. As in she wants to date me, so I don't think she'll try and get me in trouble."

Kori nodded slowly. Her head was still pounding and she wanted nothing more then to sink into a nice hot bath. Slowly she rose to her feet and brushed past Dick. "If you'll excuse me, I'd like very much to go home and take a nice long bath."

Dick nodded. "Of course you do. You wanna ride?"

Kori shook her head. "I do not think I would fare well on your motorcycle today. No matter how much fun it is."

Dick nodded his head in understanding. "Okay. Do you want me to walk you home?"

Kori smiled gently. "That is very sweet of you to offer. But I'm certain I will be fine, I am not a baby."

Dick nodded again. "Okay...just..."

Kori put a finger to his lips to cease his flow of words. "I will see you on Monday."

Dick nodded wordlessly as she walked out of his room. Once she was gone he left the room and made his way to the bathroom for a much needed shower. He shook his head as he climbed in and adjusted the water temperature. How could one girl render him speechless with just one finger! Even when he'd thought he'd been in love with Raven she'd never held this kind of power over him.

Unless of course, he'd never really loved Raven at all.

L7

Gar was wrenched out of his nice, peacefully dream by the shrill sound of the phone. He groaned in frustration and jammed a pillow over his head in an attempt to block out the unwelcome noise.

Apparently no one else was home because the phone just kept ringing. Groaning again and making a mental note to shut off his phone's ringer he reached out a hand and grabbed the phone from it's resting place by his bed.

"'Ello." His voice was still groggy with sleep and he reached up a hand to rub his eyes.

"Hi! Gar?"

Gar's eyes snapped open. "Terra!" He'd forgotten all about her after Kitten's little 'surprise' for Raven.

"Hey. I'm glad I caught you...listen about last night...you sorta ran off. Is everything okay?"

Something in her voice triggered a part of Gar's brain that he didn't use very often and he slowly pieced two and two together. "Hey Terra?"

"Yeah?"

"You didn't by any chance have anything to do with Kitten's little attack plan on Raven last night didjya?"

He could feel Terra hesitate through the phone and before she answered he knew what he'd hear.

"Yeah. But I-"

Gar didn't wait to here the rest. He promptly hung up the phone. Now absolutely furious he stormed across his room and grabbed a fresh set of clothing. How could he have been so stupid! How could he have ever possibly liked Terra? She was no better then Kitten. The phone rang again and he snatched it off the cradle.

"Hello." He snapped into phone.

"Gar?" A tentative voice asked from the other line.

"Rae?" He sighed. "Oh good it's you."

"What's up? Mad at your parents?"

Gar shook his head as he buttoned his pants. "Nope. Mad at Terra."

"Terra?"

Gar slipped his shirt on over his head before answering. "Yeah. Apparently the only reason she even talked to me was part of Kitten's big scheme against you."

Raven sucked in some breath. "Oh. I'm sorry. But hey can we talk?"

"I'm all ears."

Before she could reply Gar heard the sound of a yelling voice coming from her side of the phone. Raven shouted something back before returning to talking at normal levels. "Sorry about that. That was my dad. We're going to visit my grandmother. I won't be back until late this evening...can you meet me before school."

"Sure. The usual place?" He was, of course, referring to the door by which the five friends usually met.

"Yeah be there half an hour before the usual time." Gar did some quick calculations and grabbed a pen and paper to write himself a note.

_Meet Rae at the usual spot at 6:30 a.m Monday._

"Okay. 6:30, Monday. I'll see you then. Bye."

"Bye. Oh and Gar?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Gar smiled gently into the phone. "No problem Rae."

L7

Raven flipped her cell phone shut to terminate her call with Gar. She opened it once again and punched in Dick's number. It rang for a few minutes before his voice mail picked up.

_Hey, this is Dick! I'm probably at soccer practice or hiding from Kitten so leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!_

Raven sucked in some breath as the familiar **BEEP!** rang through the phone.

"Hey Dick? It's Raven. We need to talk. Could you meet me at our usual spot about 15 minutes before the normal time? Thanks, bye. I- I'll see you then."

Raven flipped the phone shut, ending her call. This was it. If she didn't do it soon, she'd never do it. And neither of them deserved to be miserable. She'd been happy with Dick before Kori came along. It was Kori that had destroyed their relationship.

...but she still couldn't be mad at her.

L7

Gar walked up to Raven Monday morning at 6:30, just like he'd promised. "Hey Rae!"

Raven looked up from the book she was reading. She smiled slightly and rose from the ground to greet him. "Hi."

"So...what did you need to talk about?"

Raven sighed. "Dick...and Kori."

Gar nodded understanding. "So you can sense it too."

Raven nodded. "Yeah. I talked to Vic about it so, unless you've got something other then 'it was going to happen with or without Kori' we don't need to have the discussion again."

"Then how about if Kori hadn't come along you guys would have stayed together happily ever after until you got married and one of you realized it wasn't what you really wanted."

Raven looked at him surprised. "Huh?"

Gar smiled. "Would you rather realize it now and have it hurt for a little while, or wait till you take things to far and are stuck, miserable, for the rest of your life?"

Raven smiled. "Thanks, that makes it a lot easier."

"Makes what a lot easier?"

"Breaking up with Dick."

Gar sucked in some breath. "You sure about that Rae?"

Beside him Raven nodded. "Yes. I have to do this. For both of us."

Gar smiled. "Good luck." He looked over her shoulder. "There's Dick." He gave her a quick hug. "Go get him tiger!"

Raven almost laughed, but caught herself just in time. She was about to break up with her boyfriend. This wasn't a time for laughing.

Was it?

L7

"Dick!" Dick turned his head a caught sight of Raven walking towards him.

He smiled. "Hey! I tried to call you all yesterday but you didn't answer your phone."

"I was at my grandmother's house." Dick nodded. That explained it. Raven's grandmother thought all technology was evil. If you so much as spoke about most technology in her house she'd curse you while beating you with a broom. The back of Dick's head throbbed painfully at the reminder. He'd made the mistake of leaving his cell phone on and when Bruce had called him...

"So..." He could feel the tension in the air around them. "What's up?"

Raven sighed and sat down. Dick followed her example and settled himself in the grass. "It's about...us?"

Dick felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. First off he hated talking about his feelings...he just didn't do it. And second, 'we need to talk' and just about anything about 'us' meant marriage or a break-up. And since Raven didn't seem the type to marry before graduating... "Us? Uh,"

"Dick..." Raven sighed, she was never one to beat around the bush...why start now. "I think we need to break up."

"We...we do?"

Raven nodded. "Yeah. I can feel it. You don't want to be in this relationship anymore and, after some thought, I realized neither do I."

Beside her Dick was silent for moment. "Is it okay if...if we're still friends?"

Raven smiled. "Of course. I'd curse you if you wanted otherwise."

Dick laughed. "That's good. Just because I don't like you that way-"

"Doesn't mean you don't like me at all. I know. And me too." She kissed him on the cheek. "I'm glad you understand."

Dick wrapped her in one last hug. "Good-bye Rae."

Raven laughed. "It's not like I'm dieing."

"Okay then good-bye girlfriend Rae."

Raven smiled and was surprised to find that it didn't hurt nearly as much as she thought it was. "Good-bye boyfriend Dick."

Dick made a face. "Maybe I should start going by Richard..."

Raven whapped his arm lightly. "Don't you dare! _Richard._"

Dick cringed. "Okay...maybe not."

The two friends smiled at each other before rising and joining Gar and Vic, who had arrived while they were talking.

"So...it's the end of the dynamic duo?" Vic asked as they approached.

Dick punched his arm. "Shut up. We were never called the 'dynamic duo'!"

"Maybe not to your face."

"VIC!" Vic cringed as both teens yelled his name.

"Hey..." Gar looked around as he tried to break up the fight. "Has anybody seen Kori? She's usually here by now."

All three teens shook their heads. "No idea."

"GUYS!"

Four heads turned in the direction of the voice. Terra was racing towards them as fast as she could, looking much like Gar had when Kitten and Kori had met for the first time. "Guys! You have to come quick!"

"What's wrong?"

"It's Kori! She's screaming at Roy...I think she's going to fight him!"

The four friends exchanged worried glances before racing off in the direction Terra had just come from.

"Gar...wait." Gar turned at the sound of his name. Terra's eyes pleaded with his. "Gar, please...will you just listen to me about Saturday."

Gar looked at her for a moment before turning around and running after his friends.

L7

Woohoo! There's chapter 10! YAY! I'm so proud of myself. And I was so happy writing this chapter! I finally got Raven and Robin to break up! I think 10 chapters is the record amount of chapters I've ever kept the main couple apart, or with some else.

Go me! Err, whatever. :_shrugs:_ it's no big deal.

Read and Review! I love feedback!

**_And thanks to everyone who reviewed:_**

**_scathac's warrior, xox.Annie Potter.xox, marci16, Titan6, The Samurai Pizza Cat, Princess of stars, HRH-Ft-Louie, a-1991, pink-paperclip, Jialiching, AnnMari123, rock'n'rollbitch, RobinRox13, SuperrachiE, BlazenHotSun, Jedi, thugette90, WW, Shiki-hime, linkinparkh2over, and xKazuko_**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans. But I'm thinking if I did I'd still write Fanfiction just for the fun of it.

**Title: **Life As We Think We Know It

**Summary:** Strange visions have been haunting Dick Grayson's sleep, and they've only gotten worse since he met the new girl Kori. He's friend Vic thinks he's just stressed out but could it be that there's more to these dreams then everyone thinks...

**Author: **Silverflare07

**Dedication: **To the little voices in my head who will stay awake with me late at night and listen to me as I write this in my head. Cheers to you guys!

**Author's Notes: **This is going to seem like an AU fic but at the end you'll realize that it's not. Okay nice quick update this time because I'm leaving for Europe in a week and I want to get this finished before I go. The last two chapters should be out next week sometime.

**Stuff you need to know:**

"Speech"

_Thoughts or Dreams_

L7

"YOU KLORBAG!"

The four friends arrived just in time to hear Kori's screech rise up through the crowd.

"Uh, dudes...what's a klorbag?" Gar asked, looking confusedly from Dick to Raven then to Vic.

Raven shrugged. "Must be something in her language."

"Something pretty nasty." Vic added. "Look at how furious she is!"

The four teens pushed their way to the front of the crowd where Kori was standing in front of Roy, hands on her hips, and looking ready to kill.

"How dare to you try to take advantage of me like that?"

Roy was beginning to look nervous. Kori had managed to pull herself at least a few inches taller then him and had her fists clenched together in anger. Roy tried, unsuccessfully to place a confident, suave mask over his fear. "Hey chill out, it was just some harmless fun."

"Did you believe that slipping something into my drink, therefore making me incapable of controlling my own actions, is just some harmless fun!"

"Uh, yeah." Roy didn't sound half as nervous as the majority of the student body thought he should have.

Kori growled and Dick could hear her teeth grinding together in aggravation. "Well you were sadly mistaken!" She brought her fist into the air and aimed it straight for Roy's face.

Smirking her caught her fist in his hand. "Sorry babe, you're just not tough enough to beat me."

Kori's frown became an eerily calm smile. "Well, I am sorry to disappoint you, but I am stronger then I look." Her leg came up, quick and sharp, and Roy dropped her hand as his eye bugged out in pain.

Quick as a whip Kori had grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. "Perhaps you will remember this the next time you try to be 'speedy' with me or any other girl."

She dropped Roy's arm and he fell to the ground with a **thud**. Whispers shot through the student's gathered around them, spreading like wildfire on a dusty plain. Nobody had _ever_ taken a stand against Roy before. Then this new girl comes in, and not only does she stand up to Roy but nearly kicks his ass to!

"What is going on children?" The crowd fell silent as Mr. Descow made his way to the center of the ring of students. He looked down at Roy then up to Kori and smirked. "Well, well Miss Anders, causing more trouble I see. That would be the second time since you joined us at this school. I am quite aware that you are used to being pampered and spoiled back in your own land but I would appreciate it if you would be nicer to those you disagree with here on American soil. Not everyone has to like you, you know."

Dick growled and step forward. "Wait a second! You have no right to talk to her like that! She wasn't acting for that reason at all! She-"

"That's enough out of you Mr. Grayson. You will learn to hold your tongue and respect me." Mr. Descow growled. "That's another detention for you and your princess!"

"Leave. Him. Alone." Kori turned, her green eyes flashing dangerously.

"Excuse me?"

"I told you to leave him alone. He was merely trying to explain the whole situation. As a responsible leader it is your job to hear _both_ sides of the story and judge them fairly and equally. That is what I am taught in my home country."

Mr. Descow made a face but didn't say anything back. Instead he scribbled something onto a pink detention slip and shoved it in Kori's face. "Well maybe you could be so kind as to explain all about your country's teachings..._in detention!_"

Mr. Descow turned and stalked off threw the crowd. Kori looked at the pink slip in her hands before looking up and sticking her tongue out at his back. There were a few moments of silence as the students waited to see if Mr. Descow would return. When it became apparent that he wouldn't the teens let out a cheer.

Kori turned to Dick and smiled. "Although it has gotten me into some trouble...I must it admit...That did feel very good."

Dick laughed. "It looked pretty damn cool too."

"To bad about your detention though."

Kori shrugged. "It was worth it."

"Uh... not that it isn't nice to see someone finally stand up to the jerk but…why were you so mad at him to begin with?" Vic asked rubbing the back of his head in confusion.

Kori's eyes flashed a dangerous shade of green as Dick answered him. "Remember my party?"

"Yeah." All three friends nodded.

"Remember how we saw Kori dancing with Roy, Rae?"

Raven nodded.

"Well...he slipped some drugs into her drink."

"WHAT!"

Dick shook his head in disgust and turned to look at Kori who was wringing her hands around an invisible Roy's neck. He sweat dropped and turned back to face his friends. "Yeah... It happened like this..."

The three friends listened in silence as Dick told them how he'd stopped Roy from taking Kori home and fought him, only to be stopped as Kitten came flying over the balcony. Gar just smiled sheepishly at that part. Once he had finished his friends stared at him, mouths a gap and eyes widened as far as they could.

"Dude..."

"Whoa..."

"Wow..."

Dick rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah..."

The bell rang, cutting off any conversation that might have occurred. The five friends glanced at the school before grabbing their backpacks and rushing inside.

L7

The bell rang, signaling the end of the day, and the large student body of Jump City High dashed for the doors. Only 6 students remained on the property longer then was necessary.

Raven, Kori, Dick, Gar, and Vic all met up in the student parking lot like they did on the days that Dick (and now Kori) didn't have practice. They usually met up and then went to the local pizza joint to hang out together, and listen to Vic and Gar fight about meat or non-meat pizza toppings.

"So? The usual? Two large, vegetarian, pizzas." Gar smiled.

"No..." Vic corrected. "Two large, meaty pizzas!"

"Veggies!"

"Meats!"

"VEGGIES!"

"MEATS!"

VEGGIES-"

"Excuse me?" A timid voice broke into the argument before it got largely out of control. All five teens turned to face the newcomer. Terra looked up sheepishly and scoffed her shoe against the pavement.

"What?" Gar's tone was harsh and caused three of the remaining four friends to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

Terra looked down at the ground again. "Gar...could we please just, uh, talk."

Gar gave her a cold glare and Dick, Kori, and Vic backed away silently and slipped into Vic's new car. Seeing as Dick's car was still in the shop he and Kori were getting a ride with Vic. Raven stayed behind and watched the exchange with silent interest.

Gar turned away from Terra and made off for his own car. "Sorry Terra, I gotta go."

"Gar..." Terra trailed off and looked at the ground.

"Gar wait." Gar turned back in surprise as Raven stopped him. "Just listen to her. If you don't you're no better then she was."

Gar turned to look at Terra, then at Raven. Finally he nodded and waved his hand towards Vic to go ahead and he'd be coming soon. Raven stood up to join Dick and Kori in the car, but changed her mind at the last minute and settled herself on the hood of Gar's car to wait for him.

Gar faced Terra has he heard Vic's car leave the parking lot. "Okay Terra. You wanted to talk so, talk."

Terra took a deep breath and stepped towards Gar. "I'm so sorry about Saturday. You're right, I did call you just because of Kitten's plans but, but that changed! You're...you're the nicest guy I've talked to in a long time. And I really do like you! I didn't at first but I got to know you, and now..." Tears began to stream down her face.

Gar's expression was torn between pain and an unreadable emotion. Terra stepped forward and sought the comfort of his arms. Slowly he placed his arms around her small frame and looked down at her.

"I'm sorry." He withdrew his arms and stepped back. "But now there's someone else who needs me. And," He looked towards Raven who was reading her book on the hood of his car. Sensing his eyes on her she lifted her head and sent him a small, encouraging smile. "I think it's time I started paying attention to her."

With that he walked back towards his car. As he drew closer Raven slid off the hood and was struck with the similarities between this time and when she had meet Dick after school the day Kori came.

Only this time it was Gar who was walking towards, smile plastered on his face, not Dick.

L7

The car ride to the local pizzeria where Gar and Raven were going to meet up with everyone was a silent one. Or at least it was silent until they hit their 3rd red light. There were a total of 7 traffic lights between the school and the pizzeria and Gar and Raven had managed to hit every single one of them.

So Gar decided to break the silence. "Thanks Rae, you know for staying back and making me talk to Terra." His eyes weren't on her, they were focused on the road but his tone was sincere and made Raven smile.

"Your welcome."

Gar smiled as the light turned green and he gently sped up. After a few seconds of total silence he was beginning to think they were doomed to spend the car ride that way (silent, which was something Gar didn't do very well) when Raven spoke up.

"Actually, I'm sort of surprised."

Gar's eyebrows shot up. "You were?"

He saw Raven nodded out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah, I just thought that when she apologized you'd forgive her and invite her to have pizza with us."

"No way Rae. Terra...Terra's not important anymore. Not to me."

It was Raven's turn to raise her eyebrows. "Really?"

It might have been Gar' s imagination but the word came out with a bit of hope attached to it. And real or not, it gave Gar the courage to say what he wanted.

"Yeah really. _You're _the important person in my life."

He heard Raven give a soft gasp and immediately knew he shouldn't have said it. _Duh Logan! Of course she wouldn't feel that way for you! She just broke up with Dick for God's sake!_

"G...Gar...?"

He sighed. "I know, you don't feel the same way but that doesn't change how I feel." He began to ramble, his unfortunate habit, displayed only when nervous...or very excited. "I mean this won't change anything between, of course it won't. You're still my friend, first and foremost, and if that's all you want to be that's ok. And you're not the only reason I turned Terra down. I mean, yeah you're a big reason, but I really don't feel that way about her anymore. I guess I must have for so long that I didn't even realize I'd stopped. It wasn't until I had a good reason to not like her that I realized I didn't anymore. And I-"

"Gar?"

"What?"

"Would be quite for 5 seconds so I can speak?"

Gar took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and then nodded.

"Good. First off, I know that nothing would change between us if, _if_, I didn't return your feelings. No need to be nervous. It's just me." Gar nodded again. "And secondly, I just broke up with Dick so of course I'm not going to return your feelings," Seeing his crest fallen face made Raven's heart lurch in way it hadn't in a long time. She placed her hand on his shoulder.

"But that doesn't mean I never will."

He turned to her, his olive eyes shinning with hope. "Really?"

Raven smiled softly at the green-haired boy. "Just give me a little time to move on."

Gar squeezed her hand lightly as the pulled into the parking lot of the pizzeria. "Don't worry Rae, we've got all the time in world."

L7

YAY! I finished chapter 11! A bit shorter then last chapter but I thought it was a really nice place to end it.

I'm not sure how much more 'together' Raven and Best Boy will get in this fic because the main focus was Robin and Star. But the squeal (yeah there's a squeal, you'll see why in the last chapter) will defiantly have to the two of them officially getting together.

I'm seeing maybe 2 more chapters for this story...yeah I think two. Next chapter is the BIG chapter the chapter when Dick's weird dreams finally become complete and the truth is known!

What truth? Well...you'll just have to wait and see!

I'll give you a cookie if you can guess!

**_Thanks to all of you who reviewed:_**

**_Titan6, The Samurai Pizza Cat, scathac's warrior, Jeanniestorm, cupidgirl24, shannon235, darkangelchic, SuperrachiE, xox.Annie Potter.xox, Illegally Blonde, bananas r us, HRH-Ft-Louie, Jedi, AnnMari123, Zerin Empress, Terra, Princess of stars, Kazzy103, MagicV, rock'n'rollbitch, Twilight785, xKazuko, WW, ummm me, RoBiNxStAr FAN, and Bree-2006,_**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans. But I'm thinking if I did I'd still write Fanfiction just for the fun of it.

**Title: **Life As We Think We Know It

**Summary:** Strange visions have been haunting Dick Grayson's sleep, and they've only gotten worse since he met the new girl Kori. He's friend Vic thinks he's just stressed out but could it be that there's more to these dreams then everyone thinks...

**Author: **Silverflare07

**Dedication: **To the little voices in my head who will stay awake with me late at night and listen to me as I write this in my head. Cheers to you guys!

**Author's Notes: **This is going to seem like an AU fic but at the end you'll realize that it's not.

**Stuff you need to know:**

"Speech"

_Thoughts or Dreams_

* * *

Kori waved Gar and Raven over the table the second they stepped into the restaurant. Already two steaming pizzas were placed in front of the friends, slices already missing from one of them. Dick picked up another slice and bit into it, cheese oozing over the sides.

Gar and Raven slid into the booth and Raven picked out a small slice for herself. Gar eyed the pizzas wearily. Kori caught his look and giggled. "You need not worry. That pizza," She pointed to the smaller, untouched one, "has nothing meat like on it."

Gar smiled. "Awesome!" He grabbed a slice of pizza and shoved it into his mouth.

"So..." Vic pulled a string of cheese off of his slice of pizza. "What was _that _all about?" He asked, referring to what had just happened at the school. "I've never seen you be so cold to anyone, especially not Terra."

Gar sighed and placed his pizza down on his plate. "It's nothing really. Remember when she asked me out?" Vic nodded. "She only did it because Kitten asked her to."

"Why in the world would Kitten want Terra to ask you out?" Dick looked quizzically at his friend.

"To get at Raven." Kori, Dick, and Vic all fixed him with a blank stare. "Ok see it's like this; Kitten wanted to get to you," he motioned at Dick, "but when I said you wanted nothing to do with her she got mad. I guess she figured Raven was the reason you wanted nothing to do with her and decided she had to get rid of Raven. I guess she must have thought I'd get suspicious so she had Terra distract me while she went after Raven."

"Went after Raven...did she attack you?" Kori looked at the goth who, until now, had been keeping silent.

Raven nodded. "Yeah. I mean she didn't hurt me, Gar threw her off the balcony."

Dick smirked. "Well that explains a few things. Like why Kitten magically fell on my opponent. I mean, I knew she liked me but I really didn't think she liked me enough to throw herself off a balcony to save me from a broken nose."

Raven nodded. "Good luck for you then."

Suddenly Dick's eyes widened, as he fully digested what Gar had been saying. "Wait! Kitten attacked you!"

"Yes."

"To get to _me?_"

Raven nodded once again. "Yes."

"Raven... I am so sorry."

Raven shook her head. "It's not your fault. Kitten's just a bimbo."

Kori snorted into her Dr. Pepper and the four friends looked at her. She smiled sheepishly. "I am sorry friends...it is just...I have never heard the word 'bimbo'."

Gar was the first to snicker, then Vic, soon Dick and Raven were laughing. Kori looked confused. "Please...is the word bimbo...funny?"

Dick shook his head. "No," He managed to speak. "But someone who doesn't know what bimbo means is."

Kori looked down at her pizza, hurt flashing across her face. "I did not know I was so...amusing."

Sensing her pain the four friends immediately stopped laughing. Dick placed a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry Kori, we didn't mean to upset you."

Gar nodded. "Yeah...it's just, sometimes we forget that you don't understand everything we do."

Vic smiled at her. "It just feels like you've been here all along."

Raven nodded sympathetically. "We didn't mean to make you feel bad."

Kori smiled. "Thank you. Now please...what is a bimbo?"

The five friends where silent for a moment before bursting into laughter once again.

* * *

Dick walked into the gym Tuesday afternoon and found Roy and Kori trying to stare each other down. He laughed nervously and made his way towards the two teens. "Guys..." The two teens didn't even acknowledge his presence.

"You bitch!"

"You pig!"

"You're just mad because I don't want you anymore!"

Kori's eyes flashed. "And you are mad because the only way you could have me in the first place was to mess with my head!"

Dick sweat dropped. They'd had this argument already...they really didn't need to have it again. Cautiously he stepped in between the two teens. "Okay that's enough." He grabbed Kori's hand and dragged her to the other side of the gym.

"Please let me go! I wish to finish teaching him a lesson!"

Dick laughed silently. "No can do Kori. Think about it, if you keep getting detentions they might send you back home, or kick you off the volleyball team."

Kori gasped. "They would do that!"

Dick nodded. "Of course they would do that. There's no such thing as royalty over here."

Kori blushed. "No, I did not mean it like that, it is just...I am their best player, I have been told so many times. I did not think they would..."

"Best player or not, you keep getting into trouble and they'll have to. Now how bout we play some volleyball. You can keep pretending the ball is Roy's head."

Kori smiled, almost evilly. "That sounds like a wonderful idea."

The two got on their respective sides of the net and Dick grabbed the ball. "Okay. Here it comes."

He tossed the ball into the air and smashed his fist into, sending it flying over to Kori's side. She quickly jumped, pulling back her arm and exposing more of her toned stomach. She brought her hand forward quickly and sent it propelling back over to Dick who nearly missed it.

Luckily his head got in the way.

He fell onto his back with a loud thwack and Kori gave a horrified gasp. She quickly ran over to him and knelt down to better examine him. "Oh my! Dick you are not seriously hurt are you? I am so very, very sorry."

Dick smiled but it quickly turned into a grimace as a bolt of pain shot through his skull. "I'm okay Kori, I promise."

She began to chew on her bottom lips, eyes darting back and forth nervously. Something Dick found absolutely adorable. "Please...perhaps we should play something else?"

Dick laughed and was glad to find his head didn't hurt anymore. "No that's okay. I've taken worse. Raven's grandmother once hit me with a broom in the back of the head."

Kori looked alarmed. "What ever for?"

"My cell phone went off."

Kori raised an eyebrow. Dick just laughed and sat up, resting on his hands. "Trust me, it's better not to ask. She really doesn't like anything technological."

Kori nodded. "So then we can continue our game?"

"Most definitely. With you using your anger as a fuel you'll tire out quickly. I might have a shot at winning."

Kori shook her head, laughing. "Well we shall see about that." She stood up and offered Dick her head. He took it and once again the two began their game.

* * *

Apparently Kori's anger was not only draining but it was distracting too. They were tied 21-21. Pretty bad considering last time they had played she creamed him, 42-6. The class period was almost up and it was down to the wire. Whoever scored the next point would be the victor.

"Is everything alright between you and Raven?" Kori asked as she hit the ball over to him.

"What?" Dick grunted as he slammed his fist into ball, sending it flying back over to the girl.

"Things were...different between the two of you yesterday." She sent the ball back over to him. "Not how they should be between a boyfriend and girlfriend."

Dick watched the ball as it sailed overhead. "Oh, yeah. That's because," He smashed the ball, forcing it back the way it had come, "we broke up yesterday."

Kori's eyes grew wide and she seemed almost frozen in shock. The ball sailed past her and hit the ground with a **bam**. The bell rang, signaling the end of the period. Dick smiled. He had finally won.

22-21.

* * *

Kori shook her head as she walked into the girls' locker room. She certainly felt much better. Volleyball practice had been a nice distraction from Dick and Raven's recent break-up. At first she'd been able to think of nothing else, but after a having the coach voice concerns about how she was playing Kori had found it much easier to concentrate.

She quietly opened her locker. Now that practice was over she had nothing to distract her from her thoughts. She grabbed a towel and headed over to the school's showers. She turned the water on and adjusted it to the desired temperature. Slowly she peeled off her sweaty practice uniform and stepped into the refreshing water.

Her feelings for Dick and grown at an alarming rate since her talk with her sister. That had been over a week ago and yet the intensity of her feelings for the boy shocked her. She had known him little more then two weeks and she felt like she was in love with him. Which was ridiculous. No one fell in love after only knowing them for a few weeks. Right?

Kori sighed and shut of the water, clean enough to get her home and to a proper shower. She wrapped the towel around her body and slowly made her way over to her locker. She quickly dressed and dried her hair the best she could. Sighing again she picked up her backpack and made her way to the school's entrance.

She smiled as she saw Dick leaning against the door waiting for her. He raised his head to meet her, his face lighting into a bright smile. "There you are!" He pulled the door open, allowing her to step through before following her. "I thought you'd gotten lost. I was about to come in and look for you."

Kori rolled her eyes and gave him a playful swat on the shoulder. "I am sorry to keep you waiting. I suppose girls just take longer to bathe then boys do."

Dick nodded. "Yeah...must be why you smell so good."

Kori turned to look at him, a look of surprise on her face. Dick, realizing what he just said turned a faint shade of red and coughed. "Uh..."

Kori smiled and nodded. "Yes, that would explain why we smell so much better then boys." She giggled. "I must admit I never really gave that much thought before."

Dick shrugged as the two continued to head home. He looked up at the sky, gray clouds looming overhead. "Looks like rain."

Kori nodded. "Yes, they were calling for severe thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon. I don't suppose your car will be working by then will it?"

Dick nodded. "No, it won't. We'll just have to run between the raindrops."

Kori giggled. "Or we could simply try to walk home before the storm starts."

"Okay..." Dick shot her a boyish grin. "And if that doesn't work...we can run between the raindrops!"

Kori simply rolled her eyes again and shook her head. "If you insist." She looked up at the dreary sky once again. "Still," She sighed. "I find myself to be in worse spirits on days like today."

"Huh?"

"It means I don't like rainy days."

"I know that." Dick sighed exasperatedly. "I meant huh as in uh huh." Kori raised an eyebrow. Dick sighed again. "It means I know how you feel. What homework do you have?"

Kori shook of the surprise of his sudden change in subject and thought back to her classes earlier that day. "None. I believe I have finished all required assignments."

Dick grinned. "Great me too. You wanna come over and hang out?"

Kori nodded. "That sounds wonderful. And it would certainly put me in better spirits. Thank you." She gave Dick and friendly hug.

As they two drew nearer to Dick's house the rain clouds got darker. Dick grabbed Kori's hand. "Come on!" He pulled her in the direction of his house. "I don't want to get caught in any rain." The two made a mad dash for his house and where soon safely inside.

Alfred peeked out at them from the dinning room. "Welcome back home Master Richard. And welcome to you to Miss Anders."

Kori blushed at the formality. "Please, call me Kori."

"Very well. Master Richard, Master Bruce shall be returning home this evening."

Dick nodded. "Okay. That's earlier then expected."

Alfred nodded. "Indeed, he says that whatever was wrong no longer is and he will be returning home soon."

"Okay. Kori and I are gonna go into the study okay?"

"Yes, of course. But please, do try not to get anything on the furniture."

Both teens eyed him with a suspicious glance. "What are you talking about Alfred?"

"If you bring any snacks or drinks into the study it would be greatly appreciated if you would not spill anything on the furniture." Both teens relaxed. Alfred eyed them suspiciously. "Why? What on Earth did you think I was talking about?"

Both teens flushed a vibrant shade of red and Dick laughed nervously. "N-nothing Alfred. It was just such a random order."

Alfred nodded, still eyeing the two suspiciously, as Dick grabbed Kori's hand and lead her to the study. Alfred clucked his tongue and continued his dusting.

"Teenagers."

Dick opened the door to the study and they both stepped into the large room. Kori sat down on a large, plush chair. She watched interestedly as Dick disappeared into a large closet, reappearing moments later with a large cardboard box.

"There's a rule. First time you stay over at my place," He flipped the box over so she could read what was written on the top, "we play a game of Monopoly."

Kori tried very hard to take his request seriously but a few giggles still managed to leak from behind her hand. Dick pretended to look hurt so Kori rose and joined him over at the small table. "I would be more then happy to play this game of Monopoly with you. But please, how do you play it?"

Dick grinned. This was one game he would be able to win for sure.

* * *

Two hours later Dick was just about ready to cry. Kori owned over half the board and more the half the money that had originally started in the bank. He rolled the dice and groaned as he landed on Boardwalk, a property Kori both owned and had built upon. Sighing Dick mortgaged his last property and threw down the few bills he had left.

"I'm done."

Kori picked up his discarded money and counted it carefully. "You are still $300 short but I suppose it cannot be helped." She added the money to her own large stack.

Dick sighed, shaking his head. "I just don't understand how I could lose! I'm the son of a multi-millionaire who owns his own company!"

Kori fanned out her many 100 and 500 dollars bill, smirking as she fingered each one. "But I am the daughter of a king who own his own country. I too know how to handle my money."

Dick just groaned and let his head fall on the table. "I give up. Is there any game you _can't_ play?"

Kori nodded. "Yes. Poker."

Dick looked up. "Poker?"

Kori nodded. "I am not so good at lying. My 'poker-face' is almost nonexistent."

"Well then next time you come over we're playing poker."

Kori stuck her tongue out at him before glancing at the clock. She gasped. "Speaking of time, it is already 7:30. I must be going, my sister must be wondering where I am." She rose to her feet and Dick followed the suit.

They both walked to the door and Kori walked out, after giving Alfred a friendly wave good-bye. "Thank you very much for the wonderful afternoon." She turned on Dick's porch to smile at him. "Perhaps we may play poker soon."

Dick nodded. "It's a date."

He shut the door before either one could comprehend what he had said. In fact it wasn't until he turned around and found Alfred staring at him that he became aware of the fact that he'd even said anything strange. "What?"

Alfred shrugged. "I was just wondering what Miss Raven would think of all this."

Dick shrugged, wondering why Raven should care that he and Kori were going to play poker. "I don't think she'd mind. She broke up with me yesterday."

Alfred looked momentarily surprised but quickly shook it off. "I know things are probably quite different now then they were when I was young but, is it not customary to set an actual date and time for a date."

Now Dick was thoroughly confused. "What are you talking about Alfred?"

"Did you not just say that your next meeting would be a date?"

Dick paled...he had said that. "C-come on Alfred. I didn't mean it like that. Kori knows that. At least I hope she knows that.

But deep down he realized that, if she didn't, he wouldn't mind at all.

* * *

Dick walked into Government Wednesday morning and spotter Gar writing furiously. He walked over and took his regular set next to the party-wild teen and tried to see whatever it was the boy was writing. Unfortunately Gar's handwriting was so unreadable that even if he _had_ had a clear view of the words he would have never been able to read them. "Hey Gar."

Gar jumped in surprise, dropping his pen in the process. He turned and smiled when he realized it was just Dick. "Hey Dick, uh, what's up?"

Dick raised an eyebrow. Gar was acting nervous about something... "What are you writing?"

Gar looked down at his paper then back up at Dick. "Just a note..."

"To who?"

"No one."

"You write notes to no body?" Dick laughed. "That's a stretch, even for you."

Gar sighed; he'd never been very good at hiding things. "Okay, it's for Raven."

This caused Dick to stop laughing. "Raven?"

Gar nodded, his face serious. "Hey...Dick?" Dick looked up, his face becoming equally as serious. "Would you...be okay with, uh, me and Raven becoming a couple? Just maybe! I mean I know it might be awkward for you so if your not comfortable with it, it's okay. I just wanted to..."

"It's fine."

Gar stopped his rambling. "Huh?"

Dick smiled reassuringly. "I said it's fine. I still care about Raven, she's like my sister, and I want her to be happy. If you make her happy, and she you, then good luck to both of ya."

Gar grinned from ear to ear. "Really?" Dick nodded. "Great! Thanks man!"

"No problem." The bell rang and the teacher hurried into the class. "But now let's be quiet. The last thing I need is another detention."

* * *

Dick met Kori at the entrance of the school, like they had been doing everyday since Kori and started practices. Kori smiled as she saw him coming. "Now who is it who is taking a longer time in the shower."

"Oh yeah, well I bet I smell better then you."

Kori simply laughed in response as they made their way out of the building and onto the sidewalk. Her laughter was cut short by a distant rumble of thunder. Both teens looked up at the sky, the black clouds already gathering overhead.

"I think we may have to 'run between the raindrops' as you suggested yesterday." Kori said thoughtfully, still looking up at the sky.

The words had barely left her mouth when the first raindrop landed on her cheek, trailing down to drip off her chin like a tear. Seconds later that one raindrop multiplied into millions of raindrops and both teens found themselves soaked through.

Dick grunted and tried to flip his hair out of his face. It flopped back down and he frowned. He could barely see two feet in front of him. Blindly he groped her Kori's hand. He finally latched onto something and heard Kori give an 'eep'. "Kori!" He had to yell to be heard over the rain.

"Dick that is not my hand!" Her reply came floating over to him. He turned a brilliant shade of red and let go.

"Sorry!"

Her hand found is sleeve and trailed down his arm to his hand. She gripped it tightly in hers. "It is alright! But I am afraid I cannot see a thing."

Dick smiled reassuringly, despite the fact that she couldn't see him. "Don't worry. I can get us home."

"But-"

He squeezed her hand. "As long as we're together, we'll be okay!"

The two teens began to run forward. Dick looked closely at the landscape around them, hoping to find something that would distinguish his neighborhood. Finally after almost 10 minutes of running he spotted the looming figure of his home. He turned to Kori. "Come on! My house is just ahead."

They began to sprint and made it to house in record time. They both ran inside, slamming the door shut as they did so. Dick leaned against the door will Kori began to ring her hair out. Both Alfred and Bruce (now back from his trip) came to see what had been going on.

"Dick?"

Dick looked up and smiled at his adopted father. "Hey Bruce. We, uh, sorta got caught in the storm. He pulled Kori's hand and began leading her to the large staircase. "We're going to go get dried off now."

Bruce nodded before he and Alfred left the hallway, Bruce to go back to his study and Alfred to get a mop and clean up the small puddles of water.

Dick opened up the door to his room and Kori followed him inside. He walked over to his dresser and quickly pulled out a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt for Kori to change into. He turned back to face her but found himself unable to speak.

Kori was standing, hands clasped behind her back, with a nervous smile on her face. Her clothes clung to her body, her well toned figure becoming even more obvious. She was studying the posters on his walls so he let his eyes roam over her body. His hold body ached with longing, to hold her, to do more.

Kori tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and faced him. She smiled shyly at him, her green eyes dancing from underneath her bangs. A dam inside Dick finally broke and he walked over to her, scooping her up in his arms and lowering his lips to hers.

She gasped in surprise and Dick took advantage of her open mouth, his tongue darting in and exploring as it pleased. He felt her press herself even closer to him, her hands wrapping themselves around his neck.

He lowered her onto his bed, still kissing her passionately. He felt things shooting through him that he had never felt before. This was something more then hormones, although he was getting about the same reaction. He needed her so badly that it hurt. A moan of desire rose up between them and Dick was surprised to find that it was not his own.

It was Kori's.

Slowly his lips traveled down from her lips to the base of her jaw. He continued to kiss her, traveling down her neck and to her collarbone.

_She shines in the world like a flawless star_

Dick's lips traveled to the v-neck line of her shirt. He kissed the tender flesh just barely visible. Just enough to get a taste of her, and leave him wanting more.

_With eyes of jade and hair of fire_

Dick lifted his lips and looked over at Kori. She was breathing heavily, her hair matted to her forehead even more with sweat. He leaned in and kissed her again, the kiss as powerful as it had been the first time. He lifted his face one last time to look at her. This was right. He could feel it. He kissed her again and felt her back arch, pressing them both closer. He broke the kiss and had one last coherent thought before losing himself in her.

"Starfire..."

* * *

_Dick was standing in the center of a dark, slightly foggy room. He had the strangest notion that he had been there before. The infinite blackness beyond his light was familiar. Almost comfortingly so. A single spotlight shone down on him, encasing him in a perfect sphere of light. And it did just that, encase him. He found that when he tried to move beyond the light an invisible barrier stopped him. Not being a big fan of enclosed spaces Dick decided to try and push through whatever was blocking him. He placed his hands against the barrier and pushed..._

_"__I'm glad you'll be staying with the titans for a long time and...not getting married."_

_Immediately Dick withdrew his hands. Where had that voice come from? It had sounded just like him but...he hadn't said anything. Shaking off the strange feeling that was creeping into his gut Dick continued to push against the barrier._

_"Slade did not trust you, and you did not trust us." This time the voice was feminine and sounded hurt and betrayed._

_"Man when it comes to Slade you got issues." The voice was masculine but at least it wasn't his._

_"Robin, you are my best friend. If you are truly evil then...go ahead...do what you must." It was that same girl's voice and she sounded more betrayed then the last time. It tore Dick's heart out to hear her sound like that but...who was she?_

_"Robin! You are unwrinkled!" At least the girl sounded happy this time. Relieved too._

_"You think I did this to myself!" It was his voice again and he sounded angry, furious actually._

_"I'll annihilate them Robin, and I'll make you watch..."_

_The last voice, which was also masculine, made Dick's skin crawl and he suddenly became furious. Throwing his whole weight into it he pushed against the barrier and was relieved to feel it begin to give way. First his hands slipped out, then his head torso. Finally his whole body was one the other side. Alone in the darkness Dick looked down to see that, instead of normal clothing, he was wearing a red, green, and yellow uniform. And he had a cape._

_And he remembered._

* * *

Dick woke up with a start, his breathing heavy. He looked around the ordinary room and gulped. He didn't belong in this room. Not anymore. He wasn't just Dick Grayson. He was Robin, leader of the Teen Titans. And the girl next to him, sound asleep, and naked, wasn't just Kori Anders. She was Starfire, an alien princess and his best friend.

Robin groaned and fell back on his bed, his head landing safely among his many pillows. He had just slept with Starfire; his best friend, his teammate.

Oh boy was he in trouble now.

* * *

Woohoo! I never thought I'd get to this point! Now you know...Dick is really Robin. See I told you this wasn't going to be an AU fic at the end. Didn't I? Didn't I? And look at that! Almost 5,000 words! Definitely my longest chapter for anything...ever. When I had started writing this chapter I was afraid it wasn't going to be long enough so I threw in things like the monopoly game and the conversation with Dick and Gar to make it longer. Just some cute, hopefully humorous, scenes so that no one would think it was to short. Of course it turned out to be 12 pages long so...I guess it worked!

And I apologize if I didn't make Alfred seem right. I've never heard him talk before, save for the third Batman movie and it's been years since I've seen that. I'm mostly going on how I've heard him talk in other fics. Although if you ask me, he ended up sounding like the bunny from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Then again...I felt like I made Slade sound like Mr. Lancer from Danny Phantom in the last chapter. :sigh: Oh well...I'm trying.

This is only my second time writing anything even remotely citrus-y flavored, and seeing as I don't exactly have a ton of experience in that category I apologize if it was crappy.

Only one more chapter to go! Woohoo! I should, hopefully, have it out sometime before Friday. If not it'll have to wait until I get back from Europe. I'm really gonna try though. So please bare with me if I don't.

**_Thanks to all of you who reviewed:_**

**_a-1991, SuperrachiE, lil' LIK Star, rock'n'rollbitch, darkangelchic, RoBiNxStAr FAN, Bree-2006, linkinparkh2over, thugette90, strodgfrgf, pop66, emma-o, Titan6, chibigirl626, HRH-Ft-Louie, xKazuko, and scathac's warrior_**

_And a special congrats to:_

_SuperrachiE and scathac's warrior for guessing the truth! I'm sure it was pretty obvious but kudos to you guys anyways:gives them cookies: There's a peanut butter one for you Super and scathac...your cookie is whatever type of cookie you want it to be._

**_And no Titan6 you can't have a cookie. I told you so that would be cheating._**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans. But I'm thinking if I did I'd still write Fanfiction just for the fun of it.

**Title: **Life As We Think We Know It

**Summary:** Strange visions have been haunting Dick Grayson's sleep, and they've only gotten worse since he met the new girl Kori. He's friend Vic thinks he's just stressed out but could it be that there's more to these dreams then everyone thinks...

**Author: **Silverflare07

**Dedication: **To the little voices in my head who will stay awake with me late at night and listen to me as I write this in my head. Cheers to you guys!

**Author's Notes: **This is going to seem like an AU fic but at the end you'll realize that it's not. Okay nice quick update this time because I'm leaving for Europe in a week and I want to get this finished before I go. The last two chapters should be out next week sometime.

**Stuff you need to know:**

"Speech"

_Thoughts or Dreams_

* * *

Robin groaned again and sat up in bed. Obviously something was very wrong, and that something wasn't just going to fix itself. For some reason he was not at Titans Tower...in fact there was no Titans Tower but...he was in Jump City. Robin shook his head and caught sight of the sleeping girl next to him. She was defiantly Starfire; he knew just by looking at her but...she'd hadn't acted like Starfire at all. Either this was an elaborate scheme...and Star was in on it, or she was just as clueless about her real identity has he had been.

Sighing Robin slipped out of bed and into a pair of sweat pants. He turned to wake the sleeping girl up and saw her jeans and bra lying on his floor, and not on her, which is where they should be. The reality of the situation fully hit Robin and he froze, hand just above her shoulder. He had just broken one of the biggest rules of superherodum. You didn't date teammates.

And you never, ever slept with them.

Robin felt the familiar prick of panic sinking into his stomach. He'd felt it when he watched his parents fall from the swinging trapeze and when Batman had told him it was time for him to start his own team... And he felt it when he'd realized that Starfire was going to marry the snot-looking monster. Robin didn't really handle panic well. It tended to cloud his thinking. He shook his head and realized that he had to get the girl out of his room.

"Star…er, Kori wake up!"

The sleeping girl buried her head into his pillow and groaned. "I wish for five more minutes sister, please."

Dick shook her gently. "Come on S...Kori, we don't have 5 more minutes, and...I'm not your sister."

These words seemed to wake the girl up. She shot up, the sheet slipping down, giving him a full view of her chest. Robin blushed and looked down at the ground. "Kori you need to get dressed."

Starfire..._Kori_ looked confused. Mind still groggy from sleep she had yet to remember the previous days events. She glanced over at her clock...

...and realized it wasn't there.

She looked around the room, expecting to see the purple walls and many boxes she had yet to unpack. Instead she saw a room full of soccer trophies, dirty clothes, and posters of some bands. "This...is not my room."

Beside her Robin shook his head, his gaze still averted to the floor. Kori finally noticed the boy there and quickly pulled up the sheet again. She looked around and found her clothes a few feet away from the bed. Yesterday's events flooded her mind. Her eyes widened and she turned to face Robin. "W-we..."

Robin nodded again, still not taking his eyes off the floor. "Yeah."

Kori fell silent for a moment before turning her head to the ceiling. "What time is it?"

Robin looked at his clock. "1:30 in the morning."

With a soft groan Kori flopped back down onto the bed. "And we have school today..."

Robin nodded again. "Yeah so maybe it would be best if you went home now."

Kori's eyes widened in surprise didn't he want to talk about this...she knew things here weren't like they were back in her own country but still... Tears sparkled in her eyes but she closed them swiftly. After exhaling slowly she nodded. "Alright." She stood up, his bed sheet still wrapped around her body. "I will go home." She picked up her clothes and exited his room, heading for the bathroom.

Robin sighed, he was glad no one was up at this hour or he'd be in some serious trouble. A head suddenly stuck itself in his doorway.

"Perhaps after engaging in such activities it is best not to send the young lady home right away." Alfred's head disappeared from sight but his voice floated over to Robin. "And I did warn you not to get anything on the furniture."

Robin sweat dropped. Or someone could be up at the ungodly hour of 1:30...

Kori walked into his room, fully clothed, a few minutes after Alfred's 'visit'. She picked up her shoes and slipped them on, careful not to look Robin in the face. Finally she was done and she couldn't avoid the situation any longer.

"Dick please, we must discuss what has happened between us."

Robin couldn't look at her. He tried, but every time he did he would see the old Starfire, asking him a question about something that Kori would obviously know the answer too. See the sweet, innocent, naïve Starfire that was his best friend. An innocence that he'd corrupted. Robin hung his head. "I...I can't Kori."

Kori frowned and tried to make eye contact but he dodged her successfully. "Why? What is wrong?"

"This...this shouldn't have happened."

Hurt flashed in Kori's green eyes and tears made themselves present again. "But if..."

"Just give me space!" He growled...and was suddenly reminded of the time he and Starfire and been stranded on the alien planet. How much it had hurt to have her refuse to talk to him. "Kori wait..." He turned around but it was too late.

Kori was gone.

He ran out of his room and made it to the stairs just in time to hear his front door slam shut. He leaned against the banister and pushed down the burning lump that was steadily climbing up his throat.

His head hung again as he made his way back into his bedroom. He flopped down onto his bed and buried his face into the pillow...that smelt like Starfire..._Kori's_ shampoo.

He really screwed up...again. How as he going to get her to forgive him this time?

And was he going to get everything back to normal?

* * *

5 hours later Robin dragged himself out of bed and began to get ready for school. He was almost completely ready when he realized he wasn't ready to face Kori yet. He dropped his book bag on the floor and crawled back into bed. He pulled the covers back over his head and growled.

He had never felt so helpless in his entire 18 years of life...or at least in his entire 7 years of crime fighting. Except for the time when Starfire had flown off into space and Cyborg had refused to let him help fix the T-Sub up for space travel...and the time when he was sure he was going to lose Starfire to Tamaran, as it's Grand Ruler.

Okay so maybe he had felt slightly useless since his crime-fighting career began but still...now he felt extra useless. He had no utility belt; no cape made of metals 10xs stronger the steel. No super powered teammates to back him up.

He was alone in this. He had to figure out how to get back to the real world...with no weapons, no giant T full of special high-tech equipment. Just a regular boy, in a regular town, with regular friends.

Who just happened to remember he was a super hero... yeah...regular...

* * *

Gar looked around the school building and wondered where all his friends could be. Kori and Dick were usually there by now. Vic would be here soon and so would Raven. That's how it had been forever. But Dick and Kori weren't here.

He spotted Vic's car pull into the parking lot and his face brightened. Maybe he knew where Kori and Dick were. "Hey Vic?"

Vic waved as he jogged towards his friend. "Hey! Uh, where are Dick and Kori?"

Gar's face fell. "You mean you don't know either! Maybe Raven'll know."

"Maybe Raven will know what?"

Both friends turned to face the goth girl as she walked up to them. "If Raven will know where Dick and Kori are."

Raven shook her head. "I thought they'd be here by now."

The bell rang, signaling the start of the school day, and the three friends exchanged worried glances. "Maybe they're just running late..." Gar suggested hopefully.

Raven looked up at the dark clouds, gathered ominously overhead. "Yeah..."

Vic put a hand on his friends' shoulders. "Come on ya'll. We don't wanna be late. If they don't show up today then we'll go to their houses after school."

Raven and Gar both nodded. "Okay."

The three friends nodded to each other and smiled before running into the school building.

* * *

The school day came and went with no sign of either Dick or Kori. The three friends met up in the parking lot, they would take Vic's car and go see what was wrong.

"Okay," Vic leaned up against his car. "Who should we go talk to first?"

Gar shrugged and Raven shook her head. "I don't know."

Vic sweat dropped. "Right...rock, paper, scissors then?"

Gar nodded and he held out a closed fist. "If I win we go see Dick first and if you win," he motioned towards Vic, "we'll go see Kori."

Vic nodded. "Okay. Rock," The two friends moved their fists up and down, "paper, scissors, shoot!"

Gar held an open palm for paper and Vic held two fingers out for scissors. "Haha! I win. Kori it is."

They all climbed into Vic's car and he started the engine. "So...anyone know where Kori lives?"

Gar shook his head while Raven sweat dropped at the two boys. She sighed, "She lives near Dick. Once you get to his neighborhood I can show you where her house is."

Gar leaned back into the seat as Vic drove out onto the main road. "Well that's convenient."

The ride was silent, save for Raven's few instructions on how to get to Kori's house. When they reached the mansion Gar and Vic looked up at it in awe. "Whoa..."

Raven shrugged, refusing to admit that she'd had the same reaction the first time she and Dick and seen the place. "What did you expect, she's the princess of a foreign country."

"Good point."

They climbed out of Vic's car and slowly made their way up to the front door. Vic cautiously raised a hand and knocked. A few seconds later, after some muffled footsteps, a clash, and a curse, the door opened to reveal a tall black haired girl.

"Hello?" She placed a hand on her hip and looked at the three teens. "What do you want?"

Raven took a breath and answered. "Is Kori home? She wasn't in school today so we want to make sure everything is alright."

The girl raised an eyebrow at them. "Well she wouldn't be in school, would she? She's been up since 5:30 packing everything in her room."

"Packing?" Their eyes widened and they all gasped.

"Yeah, packing. She came about 2 in the morning crying about someone being a dick." The girl shrugged. "I don't know much else, I was half asleep. Then I woke and half her stuff was already packed and she said she was going back home."

"Home!"

"Yeah. She just left for the airport like 5 minutes ago. Is that all?" The three friends nodded. "Okay good, now I've got some homework I have to do. Bye." She slammed the door shut and they heard her walking away.

Vic turned to look at his two friends. "I can't believe she's just up and leaving like that. She didn't even tell us. Do you think she told Dick?"

Gar shrugged. "It would explain why neither of them were at school today. Poor Kori, I thought she was doing fine here, now she's going back home. All because some guy was a dick to her."

Something inside Raven sparked at the sentence. "Maybe he wasn't _a dick_," She thought back to her conversation with Vic, "Maybe she meant our Dick."

Gar and Vic considered it for a few seconds before nodding. The three friends raced off to Vic's car, eager to get to Dick's house and straighten everything out.

Raven felt like something was off, there was an uneasy feeling in her stomach. She had no idea what could have possibly happened between the two that would cause Kori to leave so suddenly like that. She just hoped that in the end everything would work out...

Somehow.

* * *

Robin sighed again and stretched out on his bed. He'd been like that for the past 2 hours and was beginning to think he was going insane. All day he'd been trying to figure out how he'd gotten stuck in this alternate universe, that had to be what it was, and how he was going to get out.

So far no solution was in sight.

Robin sighed and focused on his other problem. Apologizing to Kori and explaining _why _he'd reacted the way he had. It wasn't very easy to go up to someone and explain that, in the real world, they were your best friend and a crime-fighting alien from another planet. Yeah...that would go over well.

He could see it now. _Hey Kori! Look I'm sorry for freaking out on you like that this morning but you have to hear me out. We're really in a parallel universe and you're not just Kori Anders. You're actually Starfire, a crime-fighting alien superhero, my best friend, and teammate. That's why I freaked out on you. It's not that I don't want to have sex with you it's just I can't, you know...you don't date your teammates and all that._

Robin groaned in frustration. This was getting him absolutely nowhere. He rubbed his eyes, wishing again for his mask. It looked like nothing was going to come easy to him that day. He was vaguely aware of the doorbell ringing but his thoughts had already returned to his first problem.

Who had done this to him? And if it happened to him had it happened to the others too. Were they all stuck in this other world too? Or were they stuck in their own, different worlds.

Maybe it was just him. Maybe they had been fighting Slade or someone and he'd taken a hit to the head. Maybe, at this very moment, he was lying in the hospital wing of Titan's Tower in a coma and this dream world was just a creation made up by his mind to keep him busy until he woke up.

Robin shook his head; no this was something different. If it had been a coma, the minute he realized who he really was he should have woken up back in Titans Tower.

Or maybe-

His thoughts were cut short by loud banging on his bedroom door.

"DICK! Open up!" He recognized Vic's voice through the steady pounding.

Robin ignored him in hopes that he would go away. The pounding didn't cease.

"I SWEAR IF YOU DON'T OPEN THIS DOOR..." Apparently Cyborg was still as stubborn as he'd always been here in this world.

"Go away!" He yelled back, after the pounding had stopped. For a few moments there was a blissful silence and Robin thought he'd actually listened to him.

"GOD DAMIT DICK! OPEN THIS DOOR!"

Robin sighed. Obviously not. Robin chose the immature response and continued to ignore him. He heard Vic sigh from the other side of the door.

"Stop being a baby Dick. Something happened between you and Kori!" Robin opened his mouth to deny it. "And don't even THINK of denying it. She's leaving because of you! What the hell did you do to her?"

Robin's head shot up. Leaving? No, she couldn't leave. The only reason he'd remembered was because of her. If there was one thing he _did_ know about getting home it was, however he did it, he'd need Star/Kori there with him. He jumped off the bed and scrambled to the door, unlocking it and throwing it open.

"SHE WHAT!"

Vic nodded and behind him Gar and Raven did the same. "She left for the airport about 10 minutes ago."

"Which airport!" Dick was beginning to spaz. He had to get there and stop her. But how the hell was he going to find her?

Raven raised an eyebrow. "There's only 1 airport in Jump City Dick."

Oh! That was how. He nodded furiously at his friends. He ran past them and down the stairs, calling to them over his shoulder. "Thanks guys! Cyborg, help yourself to something in the kitchen. You two Rae, Beast Boy."

The three friends watched with raised eyebrows as Dick hurried out the door. "Uh," Vic rubbed the back of his head. "Did he just call me Cyborg?"

* * *

Dick whipped his motorcycle out of the driveway and onto the main road. The airport was about 15 minutes away but if he drove fast enough, and didn't get a speeding ticket, he could make it there in 10. He revved up the engine, pressing on the gas, urging the bike to go faster.

_Come on! I have to get there. I just have to!_

He pulled into the airport parking lot moments later and threw his helmet onto the parked bike. He ran inside and up to the information desk.

"Is there a flight to..., uh," Robin stopped suddenly. He had no idea if Kori came from Tamaran like Starfire did. Finally he gave a desperate cry and did the only thing he could think of. "Never mind! I _need_ to see someone leaving from the airport today! But I don't know what flight she's on or where she's going."

The attendant at the desk raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow at him. "Uh-huh."

Robin growled. "I'm serious! I know she's going back home to her own country. I just don't know what the country's called."

The woman looked like she didn't believe, although in totally honesty if their roles and be reversed he probably wouldn't have believed himself either. He looked her over. Long brown hair, big, oval hazel eyes, make-up and nails done perfectly. She looked every part the ideal 'preppy girl' so hopefully she would be a sucker for romance like every other preppy girl.

"Please! I have to see her. If I don't she'll leave and I'll never get to tell her how I feel!"

Her eyes softened as he'd hoped and she made a small 'aw' noise. "Of course you can go see her. They won't let you on the plane without a ticket anyway."

He flashed her a smile. "Thank you so much."

She smiled. "No problem." She watched as he ran off and sighed dreamily. "I wish my boyfriend was romantic like that." Then with a happy giggle she went back to work.

After checking five terminals and coming up empty handed Dick finally found her. She had her back to him, standing in line to get on the plane. Fear ripped at Robin's heart and he heard himself call out to her.

"STARFIRE, WAIT!"

By some miracle she turned around, eyes searching for whoever had yelled out. When her eyes landed on him they widened considerably. He raced towards her, reaching her a few moments later. He rested his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.

"Don't...go..." He panted, slowly straightening himself out. "Please don't go Star, I love you!"

He swept her into a kiss before she could respond. He poured his heart and soul into this kiss, only this time as Robin to Starfire. He broke the kiss a few moments later and smiled at her. "Please don't ever go." She beamed up at him and suddenly seemed to be bathed in an unearthly glow.

In fact...she _was _bathed in an unearthly glow. Slowly she began to drift away from him, floating back into the intense light. She seemed frozen in time, her smile as wide as it had been before. He tried to reach out for her but found his hand met empty air. The light shone brightly, blinding him. He threw his hands up over his face to shield his eyes. He growled, Starfire wasn't getting away from him again. Blindly, he charged forward, desperate not to lose the tamaranian girl again. He kept running, somehow knowing he was heading straight for the barrier that had blocked him in his dreams.

...Only this time, he broke through.

* * *

Robin sat up with start. He looked around and smiled. He was back in the tower! He laughed out loud and looked around. He was sitting on the living room floor, his friends all around him. Quickly he jumped up and ran over to Starfire, the closest to him.

"Star! Star wake up!"

Starfire stirred in her sleep and slowly opened her eyes. "Good morning friend Robin." She sat up and looked around her. "Why have we all fallen asleep in the room of living?"

Robin grinned from ear to ear. That was the Star he remembered. But just to make sure... "Star...what's Monopoly?"

Starfire cocked her head to one side and studied him quizzically. "I am afraid I have never heard that word."

Robin's grin got wider. "And who's Kitten?"

Starfire's face darkened at the name. "She is the horrible grimpleck who took you to the prom, which is not a duel."

Robin's grin threatened to split his face in two and he tackled the girl in a fierce bear hug. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that Starfire."

Starfire smiled and wrapped her arms around him. "I am very glad to have said the things that you wanted to hear."

Robin detached himself from her, although all he wanted to do was keep holding her for the rest of his life, and stood up. "Help me wake up the others."

Starfire nodded and floated to her feet. She walked over to Cyborg and gently shook him awake while Robin did the same to Beast Boy then Raven. A few minutes later all five titans sat on the couch trying to figure out what had been going on.

"Okay...so am I the only one that has no idea what happened?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "None of us do. It could have been anything."

"Anything not natural." Cyborg nodded next to Raven.

Robin stood in front of his friends, glad to have the feel of his mask covering his eyes once again. "Obviously someone, or something, did this to us...but why?"

"And how?" Starfire added, she was floating, legs folded Indian style just above the back of the couch.

Any reply the titans might have had was interrupted by a loud beep coming from the main TV/computer. Someone was calling them. Robin walked up and pressed the button, allowing the call to complete. A young man, in his early thirties, smiled evilly at the titans. Brown hair fell into sharp blue eyes that danced with mischief. He was dressed in a simple, black, sparring outfit, much like the one Robin had worn on his quest.

"Hello titans." His voice was smooth and cool, "I see you've woken up."

"Who are you?" Robin demanded.

He chuckled. "Me? I'm the Dasher of Dreams. And the reason you were all in such a wonderful sleep for so long." He held up a small, brown leather pouch. "You see this? It's a magic powder, traps you in deep sleep, locks you inside your mind." He's face darkened and he growled. "You were supposed to stay happily in your dream worlds until you all died of starvation! Or I got there to finish you off..."

He smirked and the video zoomed out had the titans could see the small collection of money and jewels behind him. "Oh well, I suppose it was fun while it lasted." He sighed dramatically. "Good-bye Titans. You know, you really are to pesky for your own good." With that the screen went blank leaving the titans staring confusedly, wondering what exactly had just happened.

"So..." Beast Boy placed his hand behind his head. "Any idea who this 'Dasher of Dreams' guy really is?"

Starfire shook her head and Cyborg shrugged. "Just some jerk looking for a fight." Raven said.

Robin's eyes narrowed from behind his mask and he scowled. "Well he found one."

* * *

WOOHOO! I FINISHED! That's right folks Life As We Think We Know It is over! Aren't you all just so sad? I'm so happy I finally finished!

Yes there is going to be a sequel called, Dasher of Dreams, but I won't be able to work on that until I get back from Europe and I finish the pokemon fic I'm writing.

I hope you guys liked this and I hope it didn't confuse to badly; I know I threw some people off with the last chapter. But hopefully now everything is explained. If it's not let me know and I'll work on answering it in DoD.

And I'm sorry about the lame bad guy name. It was all I could think of.

R&R! Let me know what you guys think!

**_Thanks to all of you who reviewed:_**

**_emma-o (shinto god of death), thugette90, rock'n'rollbitch, Titan6, HRH-Ft-Louie, chibigirl626, xKazuko, lil' LIK Star, scathac's warrior, AnnMari123, Andrea, SuperrachiE, erinsailorditz, RoBiNxStAr FAN, pop66, and strodgfrgf_**

_Oh! HRH-Ft-Louie AU stands for alternate universe; it's a fic with the same characters as a show but not the same settings, like this one when the titans didn't have their powers. _

_Scathac: You can have the rest of the cookies I suppose, seeing as they're just going to sit here and get stale while I write the sequel… _

_Oh heck! You can all have cookies! _


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